Electronic receipt manager apparatuses, methods and systems

ABSTRACT

The ELECTRONIC RECEIPT MANAGER APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (“ERM”) transforms transaction initiation requests and receipt requests via ERM components into receipt formatting, organization, storage and linkage with transactions. The ERM may be configured to receive a receipt through an interface of a portable device and determine a set of fields for formatting data from the receipt. The ERM may format the data from the receipt to include the set of fields and store the formatted data in a memory element of the portable device.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a non-provisional of and claims priority under 35USC §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/485,029filed May 11, 2011, entitled “Electronic Receipt Management,”. Theentire contents of the aforementioned application is expresslyincorporated by reference herein.

This application for letters patent discloses and describes variousnovel innovations and inventive aspects of ELECTRONIC RECEIPT MANAGERtechnology (hereinafter “disclosure”) and contains material that issubject to copyright, mask work, and/or other intellectual propertyprotection. The respective owners of such intellectual property have noobjection to the facsimile reproduction of the disclosure by anyone asit appears in published Patent Office file/records, but otherwisereserve all rights.

FIELD

The present innovations address apparatuses, methods, and systems formanaging, organizing and viewing receipts, and more particularly,include ELECTRONIC RECEIPT MANAGER APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS(“ERM”).

BACKGROUND

When a transaction occurs at a merchant location, paper receipts areprovided to the consumer as a proof of purchase. Similarly, when atransaction occurs online, an electronic receipt is displayed ore-mailed to the consumer. Some of these receipts may be kept by theconsumer, for example, for returning merchandise, while other receiptsmay be discarded or lost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying appendices, drawings, figures, images, etc. illustratevarious example, non-limiting, inventive aspects, embodiments, andfeatures (“e.g.,” or “example(s)”) in accordance with the presentdisclosure:

FIG. 1A shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary receipt storageand access component in some embodiments of the ERM,

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary portable devicein some embodiments of the ERM,

FIG. 1C shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary access device insome embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 2A shows a data flow diagram illustrating exemplary receipt storagein some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 2B shows a data flow diagram illustrating exemplary receipt accessin some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 3 shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary receiptmanagement (RM) component in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 4 shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplaryuser-initiated receipt storage (URS) component in some embodiments ofthe ERM;

FIG. 5 shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary automaticreceipt storage (ARS) component in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 6A shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary receiptaccess (RA) component in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 6B shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary receiptquery (RQ) component in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIGS. 7A-F show screenshot diagrams illustrating exemplary receiptmanager application user interfaces in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 8A shows a screenshot diagram illustrating an exemplary receiptmanager user interface in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 8B shows a screenshot diagram illustrating an exemplary originalreceipt in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIG. 8C shows a screenshot diagram illustrating an exemplary useraccount statement in some embodiments of the ERM;

FIGS. 8D-E show screenshot diagrams illustrating exemplary user accountapplication user interfaces in some embodiments of the ERM; and

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram illustrating example aspects of an ERMcontroller.

The leading number of each reference number within the drawingsindicates the figure in which that reference number is introduced and/ordetailed. As such, a detailed discussion of reference number 101 wouldbe found and/or introduced in FIG. 1. Reference number 201 is introducedin FIG. 2, etc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the ERM facilitate storage, management,organization, classification and retrieval of electronic receipts. Suchreceipts may be obtained as paper receipts or electronic receipts frompurchases by consumers at point of sale (PoS) terminals or online.Consumers may utilize the facilities of the ERM for various purposes.For example, some consumers may maintain these receipts in order toreturn items for the price at which the item was originally purchased.Consumers may also maintain a copy of the receipts for tax purposes andpersonal accounting. In the case of employees, businesses may requireall receipts to be collected for expense reports and/or record keeping.

Printing these transaction receipts not only is cumbersome and generateswaste, which is harmful to the environment, but also adds additionalcost to the merchant to purchase both the paper and machines to printthem. In addition, further burden is placed on consumers to retain them.When receipts are lost, consumers can lose money on returns as well ason disputes regarding a refund for a returned purchase. Additionally, ifa consumer is viewing an account statement from a bank for example, theconsumer must retain a paper receipt in order to identify and verifytransaction amounts. Various embodiments of the ERM facilitatemanagement, storage, search, and retrieval of receipts fromtransactions, whether such transactions are performed in-person oronline, and using electronic wallet or other forms of payment.

Electronic Receipt Manager (ERM)

FIG. 1A shows a block diagram illustrating exemplary receipt storage andaccess components in some embodiments of the ERM. A user (or a consumer)may use his or her portable device 105 to conduct a transaction with amerchant 110. The transaction may be conducted at a point of sale (PoS)terminal, online, between portable devices, and/or the like. In oneimplementation, payment details 125 stored in or provided via theportable device 105 may be wirelessly sent to the merchant 110. In otherimplementations, payment details 125 may be communicated to the merchant110 using non-wireless methods (e.g., payment card swipe or tap ormanual input). The merchant 110 may communicate with a transactionprocessing system (TPS) 120 to send and receive transactionauthorization messages 135. For example, the merchant 110 may send atransaction authorization request message including the user providedpayment details 125 and transaction information (e.g., productinformation, merchant identifier, SKU data, merchant name, transactionamount, and/or the like) to the TPS 120. The TPS 120 may obtainauthorization for the transaction, and respond to the merchant 110 witha transaction authorization response message, approving or declining thetransaction. If the transaction is authorized, the merchant may providea receipt 130 for the transaction to the user or directly to theportable device 105. In various embodiments, the TPS 120 may include atransaction handler; an issuer processor (also referred to as issuer orissuing bank); an acquirer processor (also referred to as a acquirer oran acquiring bank); a third-party processor working on behalf of themerchant, TPS, and/or the cloud storage system.

In one embodiment, the portable device 105 may communicate with a cloudstorage system 115 that is configured to store electronic receipts fortransactions on behalf of the user. The user may configure an accountwith the cloud storage system, such as upon, prior to, or afterinstalling the receipt manager (RM) application. In one implementation,the cloud storage system may be operated by the TPS. In anotherimplementation, the cloud storage system may be independent of the TPS.The user may use the portable device 105 to sync receipts 140 with hisor her account at the cloud storage system 115. Users may syncelectronic receipts that are stored locally in their portable device 105or from email or other storage applications or servers using an ERMapplication (e.g., RM application) installed in their portable device105. Users may also capture an image of a paper receipt, and sync thecaptured receipt with the cloud storage system 115.

In one embodiment, the cloud storage system 115 may provide receiptdetails (e.g., receipt, receipt identifier, transaction identifyinginformation, and/or the like) to the TPS 120 (e.g., an issuer bank). TheTPS 120 may identify a transaction corresponding to each receipt and maylink the receipt 145 to the transaction, thereby allowing users accessto the receipts 150 directly from their online accounts with the TPS120.

In some implementations, the ERM may also facilitate receipt managementfor person-to-person transactions using portable devices. Aperson-to-person transaction may include, for example, a payment made toa seller in a farmer's market, sites like Craigslist, and/or the like.After the transfer of funds from the user's payment account to thebeneficiary, the issuer of the account, the TPS, and/or the like maygenerate a receipt for the funds transfer transaction, which may betransmitted to the cloud storage system for storage, management andretrieval. In one implementation, the receipt may include information onthe sender, the beneficiary, verification identifiers (e.g., from senderbank, receiver bank, TPS, and/or the like), amount, date, time,location, user provided transaction details (e.g., Frank from thepottery shop in a market), and/or the like.

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary portable devicein some embodiments of the ERM. As shown in FIG. 1B, a portable device100 may be in the form of a cellular phone, smart phone, tablet,personal digital assistant, and/or the like. The portable device 100 mayhave a display 170 and input elements 178 (e.g., keyboard) to allow auser to input information into the device memory 162. The portabledevice 100 may also include a processor 164 (e.g., a microprocessor) forprocessing the instructions stored or received, at least one antenna 166for wireless data transfer, a microphone 168 to allow the user totransmit his or her voice through the device 100, and a speaker 172 toallow the user to hear voice communication, music, etc. In addition, theportable device 100 may include one or more interfaces in addition tothe antenna 166, such as a contact or contactless interface fortransferring information through direct contact or through an integratedchip, which may be coupled to the antenna. The interfaces 174 mayprovide a near field communication interface (e.g., contactlessinterface, Bluetooth, optical interface, etc.) and/or wirelesscommunications interfaces capable of communicating through a cellularnetwork, such as Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), orthrough WiFi, such as with a wireless local area network (WLAN).Accordingly, the portable device may be capable of transmitting andreceiving information wirelessly through short range and long rangecommunication protocols. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1B, an antenna166 may comprise a cellular antenna (e.g., for sending and receivingcellular voice and data communication, such as through a wirelessnetwork), and interfaces 174 may comprise more local communication, suchas for use in conducting transactions. In other embodiments contemplatedherein, communication with the portable device 100 may be conducted witha single antenna configured for multiple purposes (e.g., cellular,transactions, and/or the like), or with further interfaces (e.g., 3, 4,or more separate interfaces).

The portable device 100 may also include a computer readable medium 180coupled to the processor 164, which stores application programs andother computer code instructions for operating the portable device 100,such as an operating system (OS) 158. In one embodiment of the ERM, thecomputer readable medium 180 may include a receipt manager (RM)application 152. In some implementations, the RM application 152 mayautomatically run each time that an electronic receipt is received, suchas during communication with an access device illustrated in FIG. 1C. Insome embodiments, the RM application 152 may run continuously (e.g., inthe background) or when launched by a trigger (e.g., transactionoccurrence, user input, application launch, and/or the like). Inaddition, the application may include a customizable user interface(UI), which may be configured by the user's preferences throughapplication level programming. The application may be used to displayand manage the electronic receipts for transactions.

Referring again to FIG. 1B, the computer readable medium 180 may alsoinclude a receipt identifier generation engine 154. The receiptidentifier generation engine 154 may assign an identifier to eachreceipt received on the portable device 100. the identifier may bealphanumeric, such as a 3 string number, or include additionalidentifying information, such as the merchant category code, a partialname of the merchant, a URL, or any other combination of numbers,letters, and/or other symbols. In one implementation, the identifier maybe in the form of a barcode, a quick response code, and/or the like.Both the generated identifier and an original or copy of the electronicreceipt, as provided by the merchant, may be communicated to and storedby the memory 162 of the portable device 100. The electronic receipt mayinclude information such as transactions details (e.g., total cost, tax,SKU numbers, item description and individual item costs, and/or thelike). The receipt may also include information such as a merchant name,merchant category code, merchant location, store number, time/datestamp, and/or the like. In some implementations, the receipt may alsoinclude coupons, offer, codes, and/or the like. Such coupons, offers,code, and/or the like may be dynamic in nature in some implementations.Some of the aforementioned information may only be desired for furtherprocessing of the transaction and/or for the merchant's reference, andthe user of the device may prefer not to view all of the informationassociated with the electronic receipt. Accordingly, the computerreadable medium 180 on the portable device 100 may also include areceipt formatting engine 156, which extracts and/or maintains onlyinformation preferred by the user and formats that information into alist of receipts. The list of receipts is displayed by the RMapplication 152 to the user. In one implementation, the RM application152 may include the facilities of the receipt identifier generationengine 154 and the receipt formatting engine 156. In one implementation,the computer readable medium 180 may include a transaction application160 which may be executed to transfer account details to the accessdevice, receive an authorization response and, receive the electronicreceipt for the transaction.

FIG. 1C shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary access device insome embodiments of the ERM. The term access device may be utilizedinterchangeably with a terminal or a point of sale (PoS) device. Theaccess device 196 may comprise a processor 186 operatively coupled to acomputer readable medium 188 (e.g., one or more memory chips, and/or thelike), input elements 184 such as buttons, key pad, mouse, and/or thelike, an output device 190 (e.g., a display, a speaker, and/or the like)and one or more interfaces 194. In one embodiment, the access device 196may include only a reader 182, processor 186, computer readable medium188 and interface 194. A housing may house one or more of thesecomponents. The computer readable medium 188 may comprise instructionsor code, executable by a processor. The computer readable medium mayadditionally store massage passing interface (MPI) software capable ofcommunicating card information through the network to the directoryserver and the merchant. The one or more interfaces 194 may be a wiredor wireless interfaces capable of communication with the reader. Inanother embodiment, interface 194 may be a network interface for directcommunication with an acquirer, the directory server, the merchant,and/or the like an issuer.

FIG. 2A shows a data flow diagram illustrating exemplary receipt storagein some embodiments of the ERM. Since aspects of the ERM facilitatestorage and retrieval of electronic receipts, the data flow diagramillustrates messages that are exchanged between a user 205 a, client 215a, a merchant 225 a, a cloud server 255 a and a TPS server 235 a over acommunication network 245 a. The messages may facilitate storage ofelectronic receipts in a manner that allows a user 205 a to effectivelysearch and retrieve a desired receipt using an RM application installedin the client 215 a or access a desired receipt from an online accountwith the TPS server 235 a (e.g., an issuer bank account).

At 202 a, the user 205 a may provide payment information to a merchant225 a (e.g., merchant access device or merchant server) for atransaction. When the transaction is conducted online using anelectronic wallet account or payment cards, the user may input walletauthentication details (e.g., wallet account username and password) orpayment card information (e.g., payment card number, name, expirationdate, security code, billing address, and/or the like) to his or herclient 215 a, which in turn creates and sends a purchase request 202 bto the merchant server 225 a. When the transaction is conducted inperson, the user may provide payment information directly to themerchant via an access device similar to one described in FIG. 1C. Inone implementation, the purchase request 202 b sent via the client 215 ato the merchant 225 a may be an HTTP(S) POST message including XMLformatted data. An example listing of the purchase request 202 b,substantially in the form of a HTTP(S) POST message includingXML-formatted data, is provided below:

POST /purchaserequest.php HTTP/1.1 Host: www.merchant.com Content-Type:Application/XML Content-Length: 667 <?XML version = “1.0” encoding =“UTF-8”?> <purchase_request>   <purchase_ID>6789879879</purchase_ID>  <timestamp>20XX-01-01 06:55:22</timestamp>   <payment_details>    <card_num>698797454654</card_num>     <card_type>visa</card_type>    <card_name>John Doe</card_name>    <billing_zipcode>10112</billing_zipcode>   </payment_details>  <product_details>     <product_id = 687987A</product_id>    <product_name>mixer</product_name>     <product_qty>4</product_qty>    <price>15</price>   </product_details> <client_details>  <client_ID>7897129382</client_ID>  <client_type>smartphone</client_type>   <client_mode>HTChero</client_mode>   <OS>Android 2.0</OS> </client_details></purchase_request>

After receiving the purchase request 202 b from the client 215 a, themerchant 225 a may parse the request and extract payment informationnecessary to create a transaction authorization request message. Thetransaction authorization request message 204 may be sent to the TPSserver 235 a. In one implementation, the authorization request message204 from the merchant 225 a to the TPS server 235 a may be an HTTP(S)POST message including XML formatted data. An example listing of theauthorization request message 204, substantially in the form of aHTTP(S) POST message including XML-formatted data, is provided below:

POST /authorizationrequest.php HTTP/1.1 Host: www.acquirer.comContent-Type: Application/XML Content-Length: 1406 <?XML version = “1.0”encoding = “UTF-8”?> <authorization_request>  <transaction_ID>6789879879</transaction_ID>   <timestamp>20XX-01-0106:55:22</timestamp>   <payment_details>    <card_num>698797454654</card_num>     <card_type>visa</card_type>    <expiration_date>20XX-11-12</expiration_date>    <cardholder_name>John Doe</cardholder_name>    <billing_zipcode>10112</billing_zipcode>    <card_security_code>6566</card_security_code>    <cashier_ID>NY97899</cashier_ID>     <amount>60.00</amount?    <location_ID>10112</location_ID>    <industry_type>retail</industry_type>   </payment_details>  <product_details>     <product_id =M687987A</product_id>    <product_name>mixer</product_name>     <product_qty>4</product_qty>    <price>15</price>   </product_details> <client_details>  <client_ID>7897129382</client_ID>  <client_type>smartphone</client_type>   <client_mode>HTChero</client_mode>   <OS>Android 2.0</OS> </client_details></authorization_request>

The TPS server 235 a may obtain authorization for the transaction at206. In one implementation, the authorization request message may bereceived by an acquiring bank (or processing bank). The acquiring bankmay send the authorization request message to respective credit cardassociations (CCA) (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover,and/or the like). The CCA may forward the authorization request messageto the card issuer, which in turn may approve or decline thetransaction. The response from the card issuer may then be sent back tothe merchant via the CCA and acquiring bank as the transactionauthorization response message 208. In one implementation, theauthorization response message 208 from the TPS server 235 a to themerchant 225 a may include information such as client transaction ID,TPS transaction ID, authorization code, transaction status message,and/or the like. If the transaction is approved, the merchant 225 a mayprovide a receipt 210 to the user 205 a or the client 215 a. In someimplementations, the receipt may be an electronic receipt document orimage file provided via email, a data package (e.g., XML) sent from themerchant (e.g., access device) to the user's client, a web pageconfirmation, and/or the like. At 212, the client 215 a may optionallydisplay the receipt to the user 205 a upon receiving the receipt 210from the merchant 225 a. In one implementation, the RM application mayobtain the data package and extract information in the data package tocreate and display the receipt corresponding to the transaction. Inanother implementation, a barcode (e.g., Quick Response code) includingreceipt data may be displayed at the merchant terminal. The user maycapture the image of the barcode, which may be read by the RMapplication to generate and display the corresponding receipt.

At 214, the user may add a receipt to the RM application on his or herclient 215 a. The client 215 a may generate a sync receipt requestmessage 216 and send the message to the cloud server 255 a. In oneimplementation, the receipt sync request 216 may be sent to the cloudserver 255 a as an HTTP(S) POST message including XML formatted data. Anexample listing of the receipt sync request message 216, substantiallyin the form of a HTTP(S) POST message including XML-formatted data, isprovided below:

POST /syncrequest.php HTTP/1.1 Host: www.cloud.com Content-Type:Application/XML Content-Length: 667 <?XML version = “1.0” encoding =“UTF-8”?> <sync_request>   <user_ID>Jdoe@gmail.com</user_ID>  <password>testtest2</password>   <timestamp>20XX-03-0108:08:22</timestamp>   <receipt_details>     <receipt1>      <data_file>hdjwhdewf873894753rfowjefs</data_file>      <file_name>emailreceipt_20XX0505R0776337135       </filename>      <format>pdf</format>       <category>electronics</category>    </receipt1>     <receipt2>      <data_file>qwdkjds798jloij6</data_file>      <file_name>receipt_data</file_name>       <format>txt</format>      <category>groceries</category>     </receipt2>     <receipt3>      <data_file>weodkwipodiwpoei85bkj6</data_file>      <file_name>gapreceipt20XX0501ny</file_name>      <format>jpg</format>       <category>groceries</category>    </receipt3> <client_details>   <client_ID>7897129382</client_ID>  <client_type>smartphone</client_type>   <client_mode>HTChero</client_mode>   <OS>Android 2.0</OS> </client_details></sync_request>

After receiving the receipt sync request message 216 from the client 215a, the cloud server 255 a may generate a receipt identifier at 218. Inone implementation, the cloud server may parse the request message toobtain receipt data and use all or a portion of the receipt data togenerate the receipt identifier. The cloud server 255 a may furtherstore the receipt received from the client in association with thereceipt identifier in a receipt database 265 a. For example, the cloudserver 255 a may issue PHP/SQL commands to store the receipt data to adatabase table (such as FIG. 9, receipt table 919 c). An example addreceipt and receipt identifier command 220, substantially in the form ofPHP/SQL commands, is provided below:

<?PHP header(‘Content-Type: text/plain’);mysql_connect(″254.92.185.103”,$DBserver,$password); // access databaseserver mysql_select(″ERM_DB.SQL″); // select database to appendmysql_query(“INSERT INTO ReceiptsTable (receipt_ID,   receipt_category,user_ID, receipt_path) VALUES ($receipt_ID, $receipt_category, $user_ID,$receipt_path)”);   // add data to table in databasemysql_close(″ERM_DB.SQL″); // close connection to database ?>

In one implementation, the cloud server 255 a may send a receipt syncconfirmation message 222 to the client 215 a upon storing the receipt inthe receipt database 265 a. The confirmation message may also bedisplayed on the client 215 a at 224. In one implementation, theconfirmation message 222 may include receipt identifier(s) for eachreceipt that was sent to the cloud server 255 a for syncing. The cloudserver 255 a may also send the receipt identifier and transactiondetails 226 to the TPS server 235 a. In one implementation, the message226 may be sent to the TPS server 235 a as an HTTP(S) POST messageincluding XML formatted data. An example listing of the message 226,substantially in the form of a HTTP(S) POST message includingXML-formatted data, is provided below:

POST /receiptdata.php HTTP/1.1 Host: www.transactionprocessor.comContent-Type: Application/XML Content-Length: 667 <?XML version = “1.0”encoding = “UTF-8”?> <receipt_data>   <user_info>    <user_ID>Jdoe@gmail.com</user_ID>    <payment_ID>517826312739</payment_ID>     <user_address>200 SummitHill, New York, NY     10112</user_address>   </user_info>  <timestamp>20XX-03-01 08:08:22</timestamp>   <receipt_details>    <receipt1>       <data_file>hdjwhdewf873894753rfowjefs</data_file>      //optional       <receipt_ID>JD20XX176</receipt_ID>      <client_transaction_ID>47668980       </client_transaction_ID>      <category>electronics</category>//optional     </receipt1>    <receipt2>       <data_file>qwdkjds798jloij6</data_file>      <receipt_ID>JD20XX166</receipt_ID>      <client_transaction_ID>67898980       </client_transaction_ID>      <category>electronics</category>//optional     </receipt2>    <receipt3>       <data_file>weodkwipodiwpoei85bkj6</data_file>      <receipt_ID>JD20XX678</receipt_ID>      <client_transaction_ID>47668456       </client_transaction_ID>      <category>groceries</category>//optional     </receipt3>  </receipt_details> </receipt_data>

The transaction details 226 may be parsed by the TPS server 235 a andcompared with transaction records to identify a transactioncorresponding to the receipt identifier. The TPS server 235 a may linkthe receipt identifier to one or more identified transactions at 228,thereby facilitating efficient and fast access to receipts fortransactions.

FIG. 2B shows a data flow diagram illustrating exemplary receipt accessin some embodiments of the ERM. As shown, the ERM provides users accessto stored receipts pertaining to a desired transaction directly fromtheir client devices. The user 205 b may input into a client 215 b, anonline account (e.g., issuer account) login credentials in a web ormobile interface of the online account at 250. The client 215 b mayreceive the login credentials and may package the data in a userauthentication request message 252 that is sent over a communicationnetwork 245 b to the TPS server 235 b. In one implementation, theauthentication request message 252 may be sent to the TPS server 235 bas an HTTP(S) POST message including XML formatted data. An examplelisting of the authentication request message 252, substantially in theform of a HTTP(S) POST message including XML-formatted data, is providedbelow:

POST /authenticationrequest.php HTTP/1.1 Host:www.transactionprocessor.com Content-Type: Application/XMLContent-Length: 667 <?XML version = “1.0” encoding = “UTF-8”?><authentication_request>   <request_ID>JHJKKLJ68JK</request_ID>  <timestamp>20XX-03-01 08:08:22</timestamp>  <user_ID>Jdoe@gmail.com</user_ID>   <password>testtest2</password>  <client_details>     <client_IP>192.168.23.122</client_IP>    <client_type>smartphone</client_type>     <client_model>HTCHero</client_model>     <OS>Android</OS>    <app_installed_flag>true</app_installed_flag>   </client_details></authentication_request>

After receiving the authentication request message 252, the TPS server235 b may parse the message and extract login details such as username,password, and/or the like. The TPS server 235 b may compare theextracted login details to information in a database to authenticate theuser at 254. When the user provided login credentials match with theones in the database (e.g., 919 a, FIG. 9), the TPS server 235 b maygenerate and send a user authentication response message 256 acceptingthe request. In one implementation, the authentication response message256 may include information such as authentication status (e.g., fail orsuccess), login name, message (e.g., reasons for authentication failure,account name), and/or the like. Once the user is authenticated, theclient may display the landing page for the online account (e.g.,account summary page) at 258.

The user 205 b may navigate through the online account site orapplication to a transaction summary page (e.g., FIGS. 8C and 8D). At260, the user may select a link or an icon for receipt (e.g., 825 f,FIG. 8D) next to a desired transaction to view the receipt correspondingto the transaction. The client 215 b may receive the user's selectionand may generate and send to the TPS server 235 b a receipt requestmessage 262 a. In one implementation, the receipt request message 262 amay be sent to the TPS server 235 b as an HTTP(S) POST message includingXML formatted data. An example listing of the receipt request message262 a, substantially in the form of a HTTP(S) POST message includingXML-formatted data, is provided below:

POST /requestrequest.php HTTP/1.1 Host: www.transactionprocessor.comContent-Type: Application/XML Content-Length: 667 <?XML version = “1.0”encoding = “UTF-8”?> <receipt_request>  <request_ID>LOYBKLJ68JK</request_ID>   <timestamp>20XX-03-0108:08:22</timestamp>   <user_ID>Jdoe@gmail.com</user_ID>  <password>testtest2</password>   <receipt_ID>20XX5679</receipt_ID>  <client_details>     <client_IP>192.168.23.122</client_IP>    <client_type>smartphone</client_type>     <client_model>HTCHero</client_model>     <OS>Android</OS>    <app_installed_flag>true</app_installed_flag>   </client_details></receipt_request>

The TPS server 235 b, in turn, may forward the request to the cloudserver 255 b as a receipt request message 264 a. The cloud server 255 bmay receive the receipt request message 264 a and may parse the requestat 266. Using parameters (e.g., receipt identifier) from the parsing,the cloud server 255 b may create and execute a receipt query 268 on areceipt database 265 b. In one implementation, for example, the cloudserver 255 b may issue PHP/SQL commands to query the receipt databasetable 265 b (e.g., 919 c, FIG. 9) for receipt data. An example receiptquery 268, substantially in the form of PHP/SQL commands, is providedbelow:

<?PHP header(‘Content-Type: text/plain’);mysql_connect(“254.93.179.112”,$DBserver,$password); // access databaseserver mysql_select_db(“ERM_DB.SQL”); // select database table to search//create query $query = “SELECT receipt_path receipt_field1receipt_field2 FROM ReceiptTable   WHERE receipt_ID LIKE ‘%’$receipt_ID”; //default or custom   receipt fields may be specified$result = mysql_query($query); // perform the search querymysql_close(“ERM_DB.SQL”); // close database access ?>

The receipt query may return a receipt 270 that matches the parametersin the query. The cloud server 255 b may then send the matching receipt272 to the TPS server 235 b, which in turn may send the received receiptas the receipt message 274 to the client 215 b. After receiving thereceipt message 274, the client 215 b may display the receipt to theuser 205 b at 276. In one implementation, the receipt request 264 a maybe made using an application programming interface (API) call to thecloud server 255 b, the receipt 272 being returned in response to theAPI call. For example, the TPS server 235 b may call a getReceipt APImethod to obtain a receipt file and/or receipt data. An exemplary GETrequest method for making the call is provided below. The API key andtoken for making such calls may be provided to the TPS server 235 bbefore making the call.

http://server1.cloud.com/receipt/api/getReceipt?callid=100008&callno= 1&apikey=aK2Lejj89j2A1_lOn4s2&token= u:c6a5941420cf67578986abe8e09a8299&receiptid=20XX6789

In another implementation, a receipt request message 262 b may begenerated and sent to the cloud server 255 b, instead of the receiptrequest message 262 a. The receipt request message 262 b may have a datastructure similar to the receipt request message 262 a. The cloud server255 b may parse the request at 266, generate and execute a query on thereceipt database 265 b at 268 and provide results of the query 270 tothe client 215 b in a receipt response message 262 b. In oneimplementation, call backs via APIs, inline widgets, and/or the like,may be used to pull receipt information from the cloud server 255 b anddisplay the pulled information inline at the account interface.

FIG. 3 shows a logic flow diagram illustrating exemplary receiptmanagement (RM) component in some embodiments of the ERM. At 301, theuser may purchase an item at a merchant location and initiate atransaction at the merchant's PoS terminal, such as the merchantregister coupled to an access device. When a user initiates atransaction, the merchant device calculates the costs and appendsadditional transaction information. The transaction information mayinclude merchant name, location, and time, along with itemized productinformation, pricing, and/or the like. The transaction information mayinclude more or less information, dependent on both the merchant and thetransaction type (e.g., warranties offered, returns availability, and/orthe like). The transaction information may be sent to an access device,such as a payment card reader or PoS terminal, which may have bothcontact and contactless capabilities. The merchant register maycommunicate with an access device through a hard wired or wirelessconnection. In some implementations, the merchant register may comprisean access device, such as a one-piece PoS terminal and/or a portabledevice equipped with a card reader. The merchant register may include acomputing device or similar module which has a display, keyboardinterface, network connectivity and write capabilities. The accessdevice can include a reader/writer coupled to a contact or contactlessinterface, which is capable of communicating with the user's portabledevice. The particular components of the access device are described indetail, in one implementation, with reference to FIG. 1C.

At 302, the access device may transfer information from the merchant tothe portable device as well as transfer account information from theportable device to the merchant, while conducting a contact orcontactless transaction. At 303, an electronic receipt may be receivedon the portable device. The receipt may be transferred in analphanumeric format, as an image and/or other file type (e.g., a textfile, a PDF file, an Excel file, and/or the like) and may depend on thevendor, access device, portable device type, user preferences, and/orthe like. For instance, a cellular portable device may be capable ofreceiving an image of the receipt for viewing, while other portabledevices may only be capable of receiving alphanumeric data. In oneimplementation, the portable device may include facilities for opticalcharacter recognition (OCR), and as such, may OCR receipts uponreceiving them.

During the transaction, a transaction application located in thecomputer readable medium of the portable device (e.g., FIG. 1B), may beexecuted to transfer account details to the access device, receive anauthorization response and, receive the electronic receipt for thetransaction. At 304, after the transaction application is executed, theRM application may be executed to handle the incoming electronicreceipt. The RM application may be executed in response to thetransaction processing application executing, e.g., execution of the RMapplication may be initiated by an instruction included in thetransaction processing application.

At 305, the receipt identifier generation engine may be executed, suchas simultaneously with the RM application, in response to thetransaction application and/or the RM application. Once the receiptgeneration engine is executed, a unique identifier is generated for theelectronic receipt. The identifier, as previously noted, may include analphanumeric string which may be randomly generated by the receiptgeneration engine, and/or generated based on information in the receipt,information associated with an issuer, credit card association (CCA),and/or the like.

At 306, the identifier generated for the receipt may be stored in thememory of the portable device in order for the user to be able toquickly call on the receipt for later viewing. In some embodiments, acopy of the original receipt is also stored in a memory of the portabledevice. At 307, the receipt formatting engine may communicate with theRM application to determine which information is desired from thereceipt, based on the user's preferences. The receipt formatting enginemay retrieve the preferred information and format the information into atable associated with the RM application. The table may include theselectable fields chosen by the user. In some embodiments, the RMapplication may include default fields which are utilized to format thereceipt information. In other embodiments, the user may be prompted toselect preferred fields when the application is downloaded and installedon the portable device.

At 308, the aforementioned selectable fields may be displayed to theuser in the receipt application in a personalized format, such as in thereceipt listing illustrated in FIG. 8A. In one implementation, theformatted receipt used in the RM application may also be stored in thememory of the portable device so that processing the receipt andreformatting the receipt only occurs when the receipt is originallyreceived. However, if the user changes his or her preference for one ormore fields for the receipts list view, the portable device may performan update and call each receipt to reformat the information into thereceipts listing.

The selection of the user preferred fields may be limited, dependent onthe display size and memory capabilities of the portable device. Inother embodiments, the table may include fields defined by rows in atable and display columns of a specified number of receipts per page,dependent on the RM application set-up. In some embodiments, the usermay be able to predefine the display set-up of the RM application.

In an additional embodiment, at 309, the user's portable device mayautomatically forward a copy of the original receipt to an issuer of theuser's account, the CCA associated with the user's account, or both. Theoriginal receipt may be in the format provided by the merchant, so thatretrieval and use of the receipt to dispute transactions with themerchant and/or account holder may be effectively processed.

FIG. 4 shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplaryuser-initiated receipt storage (URS) component in some embodiments ofthe ERM. The process may start at 402, when a user wishes to conduct atransaction with a merchant 415. At 404, the user may use his or herclient 405 (e.g., portable device) to initiate a transaction with amerchant 415 at a PoS terminal or online. In one implementation, thetransaction may be between two portable devices (e.g., peer to peertransaction), with one portable device acting as the consumer, and theother portable device acting as the merchant. Referring to FIG. 4, themerchant 415 may receive the payment information from the client 405 at404. Using the user provided payment information, and details of thetransaction (e.g., transaction amount, merchant information, productinformation, and/or the like), the merchant 415 may create anauthorization request message at 406. At 408, the merchant 415 may sendthe authorization request message to a TPS server 435 for paymentauthorization. The TPS server 435 may receive the authorization requestmessage at 41 o, and as previously discussed, the TPS server 435 mayobtain authorization from the user's payment account issuer and send anauthorization response message approving or declining the transaction tothe merchant at 412. The merchant 415 may receive the authorizationresponse message at 414. At 416, if the transaction is not authorized,the process may end at 418. The merchant 415 may additionally inform theuser that the transaction was not authorized and was consequentlycanceled.

However, if the transaction is authorized at 416, the merchant 415 maygenerate and provide a receipt for the transaction to the client 405 at420. In one implementation, the merchant may transmit a copy of thereceipt/receipt data to the TPS server 435 and/or the cloud server 425.In a further implementation, the merchant may need to be enrolled withthe cloud server and/or TPS server, before forwarding receipts on behalfof the user to the cloud server and/or TPS server. At 422, the client405 may receive the receipt provided by the merchant 415. In someimplementations, the receipt may be sent by the merchant 415 to theclient 405 in an alphanumeric format, image format, other file formats(e.g., a text file, a PDF file, an Excel file, and/or the like) and/orother formats accepted by vendors, merchant access devices and/or theuser's client 405. In one implementation, when a receipt is sent inalphanumeric format, the user may add the receipt data to the RMapplication installed in his or her client 405 at 424. The RMapplication in the client 405 may reformat the added receipt dataaccording to user preference settings. In other implementations, a paperreceipt or a confirmation page may be provided to the user's client 405.The user may utilize his or her client 405 to capture an image of thepaper receipt and add the image to the RM application at 424. Receiptssent by the merchant 415 via communication channels such as email may beadded to the RM application directly from the email application. In someembodiments, the receipts sent by the merchant 415 following atransaction may automatically be added to the RM application withoutexplicit user instructions. The user may turn on such automatic additionof receipts to the RM application by modifying the RM applicationsettings.

At 426, the client 405 may send the receipt to the cloud server 425 forsyncing. In one implementation, syncing may automatically start after areceipt is added to the RM application. The automatic or manual syncpreference may be specified by the user via the RM application settings.The cloud server 425 may receive the receipt for syncing at 428. Uponreceiving the receipt, the cloud server 425 may generate a receiptidentifier and store the receipt in association with the receiptidentifier at 430. As previously described, the receipt identifier maybe a unique identifier, and may include an alphanumeric string, such asmay be randomly generated by the receipt generation engine. In someimplementations, the receipt identifier may be generated based on a hashof the information in the receipt, user, issuer and/or CCA associatedinformation.

At 432, after storing the receipt along with a receipt identifier, thecloud server 425 may provide a confirmation message to the client 405.The client 405 may receive the confirmation message at 434. In oneimplementation, the confirmation message may be used by the RMapplication to manage receipts on the client 405. For example, the RMapplication may mark a receipt entry on the application with a sync orlocation status indicator (e.g., cloud or local) to indicate thelocation of the receipt, determine whether a re-sync is needed (e.g.,when the sync is not successful), create a receipt delete queue (e.g.,receipts in the cloud may be deleted first), and/or the like. Theprocess may then conclude at 418.

In one embodiment of the URS component, the cloud server 425 maycommunicate directly with the TPS server 435 to link the receipts withcorresponding transactions. Referring to FIG. 4, at 436, the cloudserver 425 may parse the receipt received from the client 405, and sendthe receipt identifier, along with the receipt data, to the TPS server435. The TPS server 435 may receive the receipt identifier and thereceipt data at 438. The TPS server 435 may examine the transactionrecords associated with the user to identify a transaction havinginformation that matches the receipt data. At 440, the TPS server 435may link the receipt identifier to the identified transaction. As thelinking associates the receipt identifier with the correspondingtransaction, the TPS server 435 may provide users direct access tostored receipts from their user accounts with the TPS server 435. Insome implementations, the receipt data may be incomplete or inadequateto identify a transaction. In such a situation, multiple receipts may beassociated with a transaction, or a receipt may be associated withmultiple transactions. The TPS server 435 may then provide the user anopportunity to definitively identify and associate receipts or receiptidentifiers with a particular transaction. Such definitive user-assistedlink between a receipt and a transaction may then be stored in the TPSserver 435, and reflected in the transaction summary in the user'saccount with the TPS server 435.

FIG. 5 shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary automaticreceipt storage (ARS) component in some embodiments of the ERM. Startingat 502, a user may initiate a transaction with a merchant 515 using aclient device 505 (e.g., a portable device) at 504. The user's client505 may interact with an access device such as a PoS terminal at themerchant 515. For example, the user may bring the client 505 in thevicinity of the access device (e.g., waving a phone in front of theaccess device). Such an interaction between a contactless element of theclient 505 and the contactless portable device reader of the accessdevice at the merchant 515 may result in an initiation of a transaction,such as a purchase. In one embodiment, the portable device may always bein payment mode, such that when the device is in the vicinity of acontactless PoS device, the payment application may automaticallyprocess the transaction. In another embodiment, a transaction may bemanually initiated by a user when the client is brought to closeproximity to an access device, and there may be no need to enter apassword. Accordingly, the user may manually activate a paymentapplication on the portable device, and if there is more than oneinstance of the payment application, the user may select one of thepayment applications to use for the transaction. In yet anotherembodiment, a transaction may be manually initiated by a user when theuser's portable device is brought to proximity to an access device, anda password may be required. The user may enter the password for theapplication previously set by the user before manually activating thepayment application. In one implementation, transactions may beinitiated via voice command, gestures, biometric techniques such asthumb print recognition, retina scan, and/or the like.

At 506, the merchant 515 may receive the payment information from theuser via the access device. At 508, the merchant 515 may use the paymentinformation and details of the transaction to create an authorizationrequest message. At 510, the merchant may forward the authorizationrequest message to the TPS server 535. The TPS server 535 may receivethe authorization request message at 512. At 514, the TPS server 535 mayobtain authorization and send an authorization response message to themerchant. In one implementation, authorization for the transaction maybe obtained by sending an authorization request message to an acquiringbank, which in turn may forward the message to the CCA or paymentprocessing network. The CCA may then forward the authorization requestmessage to an issuing bank of an account associated with the paymentinformation provided by the user. The issuing bank may receive theauthorization request message and send an authorization response messageback to the CCA to indicate whether or not the transaction isauthorized. The CCA may then forward the authorization response messageback to the acquiring bank, which in turn may send the response messageback to the merchant.

At 516, the merchant 515 may receive the authorization response message.If the authorization response message at 518 indicates that thetransaction is not authorized, the process may end at 520. In oneimplementation, the merchant 515 may forward the transaction declinemessage to the user and/or the user's client 505. If the transaction isauthorized, the merchant 515 may provide a receipt for the transactionto the user or the user's client 505 at 522. In one implementation, theauthorization response message may also be sent directly from theissuing bank to the user's client 505. The client 505 may receive thereceipt for the transaction at 524, concluding the process at 520.

In one embodiment, after sending the authorization response message tothe merchant 515 at 514, the TPS server 535 may determine if thetransaction is authorized at 526. If the transaction is not authorized,the TPS server 535 may end the process at 520. However, if thetransaction is authorized at 526, the TPS server 535 may furtherdetermine if the user is enrolled in receipt management and if the userhas authorized automatic storage of receipts at 528. In oneimplementation, user enrollment data may be provided by the cloud server525 to the TPS server 535 when a user account at the cloud server 525 isprovisioned. If the determination at 528 is negative, the process mayconclude at 52 o. On the other hand, if the determination at 528 ispositive, the TPS server 535 may send the transaction details to thecloud server 525 at 530. In one implementation, the transaction detailsmay be obtained from the authorization request/response messages. In afurther implementation, the authorization request message may be amodified authorization request message including standard fields ofinformation such as transaction amount, card verification value, servicecode, expiration date, merchant category code, an account number,merchant transaction ID, and/or the like, as well as additionalinformation relating to product identifiers (e.g., SKU data), productcost, tax, discount, and any other information desired to generate areceipt for the transaction. Similarly, the authorization responsemessage may include, among other fields of information, a TPStransaction ID. In some implementations, fields available as part of anormal authorization request/response message may be utilized to includethe receipt data. For example, open characters available in the field orflags available in the request/response message may be utilized, orexisting fields may be repurposed.

At 532, the cloud server 535 may receive the transaction details. At534, the cloud server 525 may generate a receipt for the transactionusing the transaction details, and an identifier for the receipt. In oneimplementation, each receipt may include a transaction ID (e.g.,merchant transaction ID, TPS transaction ID, and/or the like). The sametransaction ID may also be provided to the merchant 515 (e.g., in theauthorization response message) by the TPS server 535. The transactionID may be used to resolve any returns by the user, such as using thecloud server generated receipts. At 536, the cloud server 525 may storethe receipt and the receipt identifier in a receipt database. At 538,the cloud server 525 may send a confirmation of receipt storage to theuser's client 505. The confirmation message may be received by theuser's client 505 at 540, concluding the receipt storage process at 520.

Referring to FIG. 5, in one embodiment, the TPS server 535 may assumethe responsibility for receipt storage and management from the cloudserver 525. At 542, the TPS server 535 may generate a receipt using thetransaction details and an identifier for the receipt. At 544, the TPSserver 535 may store the receipt and the associated receipt identifierin one or more databases and/or tables. At 546, the TPS server 535 maysend a receipt storage confirmation message, including a receiptidentifier, to the user's client 505.

FIG. 6A shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary receiptaccess (RA) component in some embodiments of the ERM. In one embodiment,at 602, the user may start the process of receipt access by inputting tohis or her client 605 a, at 604, his or her online account logincredentials. The online account may be associated with the TPS server615 a (e.g., an issuing bank or CCA) and may provide access totransactions conducted using payment devices (e.g., credit, debit orprepaid cards, bank accounts, open and closed loop gift cards, smartcards, and/or the like) issued by or associated with the TPS server 615a. The TPS server 615 a may receive the account login credentials at606. The TPS server 615 a may compare the user provided login detailswith ones stored in the user accounts database (e.g., 919 a, FIG. 9) toauthenticate the user at 608. Other methods of authentication may beutilized by the TPS server 615 a. If the authentication is determined tobe unsuccessful at 610, the TPS server 615 a may notify the user via theuser's client 605 a at 612. After receiving notification of failedauthentication at 614, the process may end at 616. If the authenticationis determined to be successful at 610, the TPS server 615 a may providethe user access to the online account at 618. At 620, the user mayreceive access to the online account. The online account's landing pagemay be displayed on the display interface of the client 605 a. The usermay navigate through the online account web site or application to viewa desired transaction listed in an account summary or statement. In someimplementations, each transaction entry in the online account summary orstatement may include a link or an icon for a receipt for thetransaction. At 622, the user may select a receipt link or icon next toa transaction to view the receipt associated with the transaction. At624, the TPS server 615 a may receive an identifier of a receiptcorresponding to the selected receipt link or icon from the user'sclient 605 a. At 626, the TPS server 615 a may request the receiptcorresponding to the receipt identifier from the cloud server 625 a. Thecloud server 625 a may receive the request at 628, and may in turn querya receipt database (e.g., 919 c, FIG. 9) using the receipt identifier asa query parameter at 630. The query may return a receipt having areceipt identifier matching the query parameter at 632. The receipt maybe sent to the TPS server 615 a at 634. After receiving the receipt at636, the TPS server 615 a may send the receipt to the user's client 605a at 638. The client 605 a may receive the receipt and display it on adisplay interface at 640, concluding the receipt access process at 616.

In an alternate embodiment, the selected receipt link or icon andassociated receipt identifier may be sent to the cloud server 625 a,instead of the TPS server 615 a. The cloud server 625 a may look up thereceipt corresponding to the receipt identifier and provide the receiptto the user's client 605 a for display as, for example, an iframe withinthe online account webpage or application.

FIG. 6B shows a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary receiptquery (RQ) component in some embodiments of the ERM. In one embodiment,the RQ component may include a client 605 b (e.g., portable device) anda cloud server 625 b. Starting at 65 o, a user may input a reportrequest via the client 606 a at 652. The request may specify one or morereceipt query parameters such as transaction date, merchant name orcategory code, purchase category, payment card account, receiptidentifier, transaction ID, other custom category (e.g., merchantswithin a zip code, purchases exceeding a threshold amount, taxdeductible purchase, and/or the like), and/or the like (e.g., FIGS. 7Cand 7F). In a further implementation, the request may also specify areport type (e.g., list of results, custom or default). At 654, thecloud server 625 b may receive the request. At 656, the cloud server 625b may parse the request to extract the one or more query parameters. At658, the cloud server 625 b may take the query parameters and constructa query for execution. At 66 o, the cloud server 625 b may execute thequery on one or more databases and/or tables (e.g., 919 c, FIG. 9).After executing the query, at 668, the cloud server 625 b may obtainquery results that include receipts having receipt parameters that matchthe query parameters. In one embodiment, at 67 o, the cloud server 625 bmay determine the type of report requested and send results to theclient 605 b accordingly. For example, if the user requested a list ofresults, the cloud server 625 b may send a list of matching receiptidentifiers to the client 605 b at 672. The client 605 b may receive thelist at 674. In some implementations, the client 605 b may obtain thereceipt location status (e.g., local, cloud) at 676 by performing asearch of the receipts stored in the client 605 b. At 678, the client605 b may display the results, along with the receipt location status,concluding the process at 698.

In one implementation, the user may request a detailed report at 670. Ifthe user has provided custom report parameters at 68 o, the cloud server625 b may obtain the custom report parameters at 686. The custom reportparameters may be included in the receipt request message and/or may bestored in a report database (e.g., 919 g, FIG. 9). Using the customreport parameters, at 688, the cloud server 625 b may extract customreport parameter values from the receipts obtained as query results.

At 690, the cloud server 625 b may send report data including customreport parameter values along with receipt identifiers to the user'sclient 605 b. At 692, the client 605 b may receive the report data. At694, the user's client 605 b may generate a report in the formatspecified by the user's preference settings. In one implementation, theformatting may be facilitated by the receipt formatting engine describedwith reference to FIG. 1B. At 696, the user's client 605 b may displaythe formatted report to the user. In one implementation, the formattedreport may be displayed within the RM application interface. In anotherimplementation, the user may be provided an option to open the formattedreport in other applications such as iBooks, Pages, and/or the likedepending on the report format. The process may then conclude at 696.

In one implementation, if the user has not provided custom reportparameters, the cloud server 625 b may select default report parametersat 680. In one implementation, the selection of default reportparameters may be based on target and/or requesting client capabilities.At 682, the cloud server 625 b may obtain the default report parameters.As in the case when custom parameters are available, at 684, the cloudserver 625 b may extract default report parameter values from thereceipts in the query result. Similarly, at 690, the cloud server 625 bmay send report data including the matching receipt identifiers andextracted default parameter values to the user's client 605 b. Theuser's client 605 b may then process the receipt data as described withrespect to 692, 694 and 696.

FIGS. 7A-F show schematic diagrams illustrating exemplary RM applicationuser interfaces in some embodiments of the ERM. As shown, variousaspects of the RM application features and functionalities in variousimplementations are illustrated in these figures. Referring to FIG. 7A,the user interface (UI) 706 may be that of an email application (e.g.,“Mail” in iOS, “Gmail” in Android, and/or the like) showing the contentsof an email. In one implementation, as indicated by the email data 706a, the email may be sent by or on behalf of a merchant (e.g., Zstore) tothe email owner (e.g., J. Doe) after conducting a transaction with themerchant. As shown, the email may further comprise a receipt attachment706 b. When the receipt attachment 706 b is selected, a menu similar tothat shown in the UI 708 may be launched. The menu may include severalbuttons such as a quick look button 708 a that allows the user to viewthe attachment 706 b, an open in receipt manager button 708 b thatallows the user the open the attachment in the RM application, an add toreceipt manager button 708 c that allows the user to add the attachmentto the RM application and a cancel button 708 d that takes the user backto the UI 706. Other options may also be available, such as may dependon the format of the attachment.

Referring to FIG. 7B, the RM application UI is illustrated. As shown,the UI may include several tab bar icons 705, 715, 725, 735 and 745 forvarious purposes. The UI 710, as shown, illustrates the display paneland options available when the add receipt tab bar icon 705 is selectedby the user. The user may add a receipt to the RM application byselecting any of the options provided. For example, the user may selectthe option 710 a to take a photo of a receipt using his or her portabledevice and add the photo to the RM application. The user may also selectoption 710 b to choose a file from a saved location and add the chosenfile to the RM application. For example, receipts in text, PDF or otherformats may be saved in the portable device file system or applicationssuch as iBooks. The user may use the option 710 b to navigate to thelocation or application and select the desired receipt to import it tothe RM application. In addition to the features described with respectto FIG. 7A, the user may also select choose from email option 710 c togo to the application and select the desired attachment.

Referring to FIG. 7C, example UI 712 and 714 associated with the receiptfinder tab icon 715 are illustrated. As shown in UI 712, the receiptfinder tab provides several selection criteria that the user may utilizeto find a desired receipt. For example, the user may specify atransaction date or a range using option 712 a, one or more merchantnames using option 712 b, purchase category 712 c (e.g., grocery, tax,healthcare, miscellaneous, and/or the like), payment card or account 712d, custom search criteria 712 e (e.g., merchants within a zip code,purchases exceeding a threshold amount, and/or the like), and/or thelike. In one implementation, the user may also enter a receiptidentifier, a list of receipt identifiers (e.g., separated by space,comma or semicolon), a range of receipt identifiers at 712 f as a searchcriteria. The user may then select the search button 712 g to findreceipts and/or receipt identifiers matching the provided searchcriteria. In some implementations, receipts may include coupons, codes,offers, and/or the like. The value of these coupons, codes, offers,and/or the like may be dynamic and may vary depending on the purchaseamount, date and/or time of redemption, purchase item, purchaselocation, and/or the like. In one implementation, the RM application mayextract details relating to such information and mark and/or categorizereceipts including such information under a separate category (e.g.,offers). In a further implementation, when the offer is no longer valid,the receipts may be de-categorized, such that the offers categoryincludes receipts with valid offers. The categorization of receipts withoffers may assist the user in looking up any offers relating to, forexample a merchant, prior to making a purchase with the merchant.

The UI 714 illustrates an example display panel showing the searchresults. In one implementation, the search results may be provided as alisting arranged by, for example, transaction date 714 a correspondingto the search parameters 712 a. The listing may include a receiptidentifier 714 b, date of transaction 714 c, merchant information 714 d,transaction amount 714 e, return eligibility status indicator 714 f,receipt location indicator 714 g, and/or the like. In oneimplementation, the return eligibility status indicator 714 f mayindicate whether the items purchased are eligible for return. Forexample, for the receipt with identifier 123, the return eligibilitystatus indicator 714 f, as shown, may indicate that a return is nolonger possible (e.g., purchase occurred more than 90 days before),while the receipt with return eligibility status indicators 714 f forreceipts with identifiers 789 and 567 may indicate that the purchasesare eligible for return. In one implementation, the return eligibilitydetermination may be based on the examination of the merchant's rulesand conditions for returns. In one implementation, the receipt locationindicator 714 c may indicate whether a copy of the receipt is availablelocally (e.g., “L” indicator) or in the cloud (e.g., “C” indicator).

In one implementation, in addition to the search results displayed in UI714, the RM application may also display receipts that are related tothe receipts in the search results. For example, a user may return oneor more items associated with a receipt for refund. The RM applicationmay associate the original purchase receipt with the receipt for refund,such that the user has a complete overview of the purchase and refund.The association between receipts may also assist the RM application inproviding an actual spend amount, taking into account the refund amount.In one implementation, the relatedness may be established based onreceipt data, and/or user input.

When one of the search results (e.g., receipt 789) is selected from theUI 714, the UI 716 of FIG. 7D may be displayed. The UI 716 may show thecopy of the original (or cloud or TPS generated) receipt 716 b for thetransaction. The UI may also include an option to view the return policyfor the merchant via the navigation bar icon 716 a. In oneimplementation, the UI may include tab bar icons 716 c, 716 d and 716 efor processing the receipt. For example, when the tab bar icon 716 c isselected, the UI 718 may be displayed. As shown, UI 718 may include amenu including several options may be displayed. For example, the menumay include an option 718 a to email the receipt being viewed, an option718 b to print the receipt, option 718 c to sync the receipt, an option718 d to cancel and return to UI 716. In one implementation, the syncreceipt option 718 c may be displayed only when the receipt locationindicator 714 c (see UI 714, FIG. 7C) indicates that the receipt isstored locally. If the receipt is stored in the cloud, the option 718 cmay be modified to an option to download receipt, such that the receiptis accessible to the user even when the portable device is offline.Referring to UI 716, the user may use the left and right arrow tab baricons 716 d to view other receipts in the listing of search results (seeUI 714, FIG. 7C), and the tab bar icon 716 e to delete the receiptcurrently displayed in the display panel. In one implementation, iconsfor viewing the back of the receipt, rotating the receipt, zooming in orout and/or the like may be available in the RM application.

Referring to FIG. 7E, UI 720 and 722 associated with the settings tabicon 725 illustrate various options for setting up the preferences forreceipt management in the RM application. Referring to UI 720, in oneimplementation, the user may use option 720 a to select payment cardaccounts or issuers with which the user wishes to link receipts. Forexample, when the payment cards “VISA *6789” and “Visa Signature” areselected as shown, the RM application establishes a link between theissuers of the selected payment cards and receipts associated with theselected payment cards. In one implementation, establishing the link mayinclude contacting the issuer on behalf of the user, providing userauthorized information to the user, providing API keys and tokens,and/or the like. In one implementation, the user may be provided anoption 72 ob for automatic sync, which when turned on, may cause the RMapplication to automatically sync receipts received by the portabledevice to the cloud. In another implementation, an option 720 c may beprovided, which when turned on, may cause the RM application toautomatically categorize any receipts added to the RM application in oneor more user-defined or default categories (e.g., healthcare, grocery,tax, school, and/or the like). In a further implementation, the user mayselect one or more categories listed under option 720 d in which thereceipts may be categorized. In one implementation, the RM applicationmay prompt the user to enter a category for a receipt whenever a receiptfor a transaction is received by the cloud server. In oneimplementation, such prompting may be in the form of an alert to theuser. The alert may indicate an occurrence of a transaction. The alertmay immediately inform the user of the transaction, and if thetransaction is unauthorized, the user may take steps to address thefraud. In one implementation, a copy of the receipt may be provided withthe alert. The user may save his or her setting preferences by selectingthe save icon 720 e in the navigation bar.

Referring to UI 722, the RM application may also include an option 722 afor customizing receipt display. For example, the user may select one ormore fields 722 b-i for display in any receipt listing (such as thelisting shown in UI 714, FIG. 7C, FIG. 8A). In one implementation, theuser may have the option to select a receipt ID field 722 b, date 722 c,amount 722 d, merchant 722 e, returns 722 f, purchase category 722 g,receipt location 722 h, optimized for portable device 722 i, and/or thelike. In a further implementation, the optimized for portable device 722i option may include a list of pre-configured fields suitable fordisplay in the portable device (e.g., an iPhone with a certain displayarea, an iPad with a certain display area, display orientation, and/orthe like). These customizations may be saved by selecting the save icon722 j on the navigation bar. In one implementation, selection of thesync tab bar icon 735 may cause the RM application to identify allreceipts stored locally that have not been synced and sync them with thecloud server. In a further implementation, a listing of local receiptsmay be displayed for the user to review, select or deselect, and confirmsync.

Referring to FIG. 7F, UI 724 and 725 associated with the report tab icon745 illustrate various options for report generation in the RMapplication. In one implementation, UI 724 may provide an option 724 ato choose report criteria. These options may include, for example,groceries 724 b, tax 724 c, miscellaneous 724 d, healthcare 724 e,merchant 724 f, and/or the like, as well as an option to add a newcategory 724 g. The UI may also provide an option 724 h to choose areport format. Examples of report format may include, a listing 724 i, asummary format 724 j, a spreadsheet format 724 k, and/or the like. In afurther implementation, default report templates may be provided forselection by the user. The user may modify a default report template andsave the modified template as a new template. In one implementation, theuser may also add custom templates (e.g., custom expense reporttemplate) to the report format. In a further implementation, copies ofthe templates may be maintained at the cloud server such that the userdoes not need to save them in the memory of his or her portable device.In one implementation, the listing 724 i may be a listing of receipts byreceipt identifier with a link or an icon that directs the user to thereceipt. The summary format 724 j may be a summary listing such as theone shown in UI 714 (FIG. 7C) and item 800 (FIG. 8A). The spreadsheetformat 724 k may be a table format such as UI 726. The UI may alsoinclude a get report button 724 i that causes the RM application toobtain or generate a report in the user-specified format includingreceipt data matching the user-specified reporting criteria. The reportsettings thus configured may be saved by selecting the save button 724 mon the navigation bar.

When the get report button 724 i is selected from UI 724, the RMapplication may display UI 726. UI 726, as shown, may include a tab foreach reporting criteria selected. For example, as groceries criterion724 b is selected in UI 724, a groceries tab 726 b may be displayed. Theuser may also add additional reporting criteria directly from UI 726 byselecting the tab 726 d. As shown, a tax tab 726 c has been added fromUI 726. Each tab, may include a table 726 g including fields customizedby the user 9 (e.g., using UI 722, FIG. 7E). The table may includeoptions to add a column or row by selecting an add column icon 726 e oran add row icon 726 f. In one implementation, the user may select a datafield for the new column or row and select refresh button 726 k toobtain data pertaining to the just added data field. The table may alsoinclude options to select a cell or a group of cells as shown by aselection box 726 h. In one implementation, when a selection box isdrawn, a menu option 726 i may be displayed. The menu option 726 i mayinclude options to copy, cut, paste, delete, merge, fill, format, createchart, and/or the like. When the create chart option is selected, achart option menu (not shown) may be displayed. The user may select asuitable chart type (e.g., bar, column, pie, and/or the like) and achart such as chart 726 j may be displayed. The underlying data for thechart may be derived from the data in the selection area 726 h. In oneimplementation, the user may select a save button 7261 to save the tableand chart, an export button 726 m to export the table and/or chart toanother application or as a file (e.g., PDF, Excel, text, and/or thelike), a print button 726 n to print the table and/or chart, an emailbutton 7260 to email the report to one or more recipients, and/or thelike.

As discussed previously, users may use the reporting facilities of theRM application to request various reports generated in a selected formator using a template. Such reports may be useful for various purposes,including management, tracking, and record keeping of personal finances,business expenses, budgeting, and/or the like. For example, in oneimplementation, a user may desire to obtain a report for all educationrelated transactions conducted in the previous year. In situations whereeducation related expenses may have tax benefits or be tax deductible,the report may be used to ascertain applicable tax credits, and thereceipts for such transactions may be available for any tax audits. Inanother implementation, the reporting facilities of the ERM may assistin the preparation of expense reports for reimbursement, insurance claimreports, and/or the like. For example, in one implementation, a user mayretrieve receipts that are categorized under work expenses and generatean expense report (e.g., using a default template or custom templateaccepted and/or approved by an employer). In some implementations, theuser may retrieve receipts for all transactions conducted during abusiness trip (e.g., using search parameters such as date range,geographic location, and/or the like). They user may then deselect anyreceipts that the user may not wish to be reimbursed for, generate areport in a desired format and/or template, add notes or comments andsend the report to desired recipients. In one implementation, the RMapplication may be integrated with applications such as tax preparationsoftware, human resources software, and/or the like to allow effectiveimporting/exporting of receipt and/or transaction data and reports.

FIG. 8A shows a screenshot diagram illustrating an exemplary RMapplication user interface in some embodiments of the ERM. As shown, theRM application UI 800 provides columns including fields reflecting theuser's selectable preferences for receipt information along with areceipt identifier column. For example, these selectable fields mayinclude the date of the purchase, the amount of the purchase, themerchant where the purchase was made and return period. Theaforementioned fields are shown only as an example and any informationincluded on the receipt may be utilized to form a field. If informationrelating to a field is not provided within a particular electronicreceipt, the field may be left blank or may include an indication (e.g.,N/A) that the information was not provided in the receipt.

In addition to receipt information, the RM application may includeadditional functionality, such as actions which may be performed on thereceipt. For example, the user may print the listing of receipts and/oran individual receipt through selection of a printer icon 804. The usermay interface the portable device with a computer (not shown) incommunication with a printer or wirelessly, such as through a WLAN to aprinter. In one embodiment, when the user selects the printer icon 804to print the listing of receipts, the user may be prompted to re-selectthe formatting of the receipts. For example, it may be that due to thesize of the display on the portable device, the user may only includefour fields of information for the receipts displayed thereon. However,when printing, the user may wish to include additional fields of receiptinformation.

As shown in FIG. 8A, the user may also select to transmit, such as bytext message or email 806 the receipt and/or listing of receipts to arecipient or delete 810 the receipt(s). In one embodiment, the user mayselect (e.g., highlight) 802 individual receipts or multiple receipts toperform any of the functions 804, 806 and 808. In another embodiment,with no selection of receipts by the user, the application may print,email or delete the displayed listing (e.g. all or at least more thanone) of the receipts. The RM application UI 800 may also include an exit810 function, which allows a user to exit the application. In anotherembodiment, as discussed with reference to FIG. 7C, the RM may include asearch function (not shown), which allows a user to enter a portion ofinformation found in a selectable field to locate a receipt. Forexample, the search function may automatically provide the user with atext field to enter the receipt identifier number, a merchant name,date, and/or the like The RM may return a listing of receipts meetingthat criteria.

When a user is viewing the listing of receipts in the RM application UI800, the user may select a particular receipt for viewing. As shown inFIG. 8A, only preferred fields may be shown. However, a user may alsowish to view the original receipt in order to review particular itemcosts, and/or the like Accordingly, the user may select a listed receipt802, and the identifier (i.e., the identifier associated with thereceipt 802) is utilized to retrieve the original receipt from theportable device memory (or from the cloud server) and display theoriginal receipt to the user.

FIG. 8B shows a screenshot diagram illustrating an exemplary originalreceipt in some embodiments of the ERM. The original receipt 805 may bein any format which was provided by the merchant and may includeinformation such as the merchant name, address, store number, date/time,product details in the transaction, and/or the like. In oneimplementation, the receipt may be converted to a standard format (e.g.,images may be converted to PDF for text recognition). In oneimplementation, receipts may be processed using optical characterrecognition (OCR) in order to extract data from the receipts. Thereceipt may include an identifier 812, which may be generated by thereceipt identifier generation engine 154 discussed in reference to FIG.1B. While viewing the original receipt 805, the user may still have theoptions of printing 816, emailing 818 and deleting 820 the receipt 805.Additionally, the user may have the option to return 814 to the previousdisplay 800 (e.g., menu), including the listing of receipts.

FIG. 8C shows a screenshot diagram illustrating an exemplary accountstatement in some embodiments of the ERM. In addition to being able toview the receipt in the RM, the user may decide to delete receiptsfrequently and/or rely on the issuer and/or CCA of an account toadditionally maintain receipt data. In such a case, the RM applicationmay be programmed with instructions to forward receipt related dataand/or a copy of the original receipt to the account issuer and/or CCAwhen an electronic receipt is received on the portable device. In someimplementations, as discussed with respect to FIGS. 2A and 4, receiptand/or receipt data may be synced to the cloud server and the cloudserver may share the receipt data (e.g., receipt identifier) with theissuer and/or CCA. The receipt data can include a hyperlink of theidentifier 822 generated on the portable device. In one implementation,as previously discussed, the identifier may be generated by the cloudserver or the TPS server. Accordingly, when a user views an accountstatement 815 the hyperlink may be utilized to retrieve a copy of theoriginal receipt (e.g., from local memory or database associated withthe cloud server) and to display that copy to the user.

In another embodiment, if the user is viewing the account statement 815on the portable device, the identifier 822 hyperlink may be used to callthe original receipt from the memory of the portable device for viewingor to run the receipt application and display a listing of receipts,highlighting the selected receipt. In an alternative embodiment, theidentifier 822 on the account statement 815 may be generated by the CCAor issuer of the account and may differ from the identifier created onthe user's portable device. In some embodiments, an icon may be providedin place of an identifier.

As previously described, the receipt identifier generated on the receiptidentifier generation engine 154 by the user's portable device 100 maybe appended to the original receipt and utilized in the user's accountstatement for cross-referencing with the receipts in the RM applicationillustrated in FIG. 8A. The identifier may be used in the statement tocall a local copy of the receipt for viewing, such as in the case wherethe user accesses his or her account statement (e.g., VISA) via his orher portable device. In another embodiment, the identifier may be usedto view the receipt in another browser window, such as when the copy isstored by the issuer and/or CCA or in a cloud.

In one embodiment, the account issuer or CCA may also include a receiptidentifier generation engine, which may assign a new receipt identifierto the receipt for accessing the receipt from the user's statement. Insome embodiments, the user's RM application may automatically insert theidentifier generated on the portable device into the copy of theoriginal receipt forwarded to the issuer and/or CCA, or synced with thecloud server. This may aid the user in finding the receipt more easilyon his or her portable device through the RM application.

FIGS. 8D-E show screenshot diagram illustrating exemplary user accountapplication in some embodiments of the ERM. As shown, UI 825 and 835illustrate example user interfaces of a user account with a TPS server(e.g., an issuer, a CCA, merchants that issue payment cards, and/or thelike) that is synced to the user's portable device and/or cloud serveras discussed previously. In one implementation, UI 825 may displaypayment and user information 825 a, fields of transaction information825 b (e.g., date, amount, description), a sorting option 825 c, and/orthe like. For example, recent transaction details may be listed in thedisplay area of the UI. Each transaction may be identified by atransaction date 825 d, merchant information (e.g., name, city, state,phone number, and/or the like) 825 e, an icon or link 825 f for areceipt for the transaction, a transaction amount 825 g, and/or thelike. When the receipt icon 825 f is selected, UI 835 may be displayed.As shown, the UI may include an overlay 835 a in which the receipt 835 bassociated with the selected icon may be displayed. The overlay may alsoinclude options to print 835 c, save 835 d, email 835 e, and/or thelike. The user may simply close the overlay 835 a to return back to UI825.

Referring to FIG. 8E, in one implementation, a UI 845 may be displayedwhen the user accesses his or her account. As shown, a number of receipticons 845 a may be displayed next to a transaction. Such a situation mayoccur when there is incomplete data to definitively associate a receiptto a transaction. These icons may include receipts that are most likelyrelated to the transaction. When any one of the icons 845 a is selected,UI 855 may be displayed to the user. As shown, the UI may include anoverlay 855 a that may display all three receipts 855 b, 855 c and 855 dthat are most likely associated with the transaction. In oneimplementation, the user may review the receipts and select a receipt tolink it to the transaction. As shown, when the user selects receipt 855b, a link option 855 e may pop up. The user may select the link optionto link the receipt to the transaction. In one implementation, the usermay be requested to confirm the linking, at which time, the user mayeither confirm or cancel the linking.

In light of the aforementioned detailed description, it should be notedthat various aspects of the ERM may allow a user to view, maintain,organize and manage receipts. Additionally, facilities of the ERM allowusers to effectively manage their financing of accounts used in atransaction through effective and quick viewing of receipts associatedwith those transactions. As discussed, various aspects of the ERMinclude a centralized cloud storage server where receipts are stored,and receipt identifiers that are shared among users, issuers, other TPSserver entities, and/or the like. Such facilities of the ERM may reduceredundancy of data stored at such entities. Additionally, as receiptsare synced to the cloud server, and may be efficiently retrieved usingreceipt identifiers or queries, receipts need not be stored locally inthe portable device and memory in the portable device may be madeavailable for other purposes.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, ERM may act as a receipt aggregator,aggregating receipts from all transactions (e.g., at PoS terminal,online, device to device, and/or the like), regardless of the paymentform (e.g., credit, debit, prepaid, cash, check, and/or the like), andproviding users access to aggregate transaction data. Such aggregatetransaction data may be used to generate various reports and performanalyses on spending. For example, users may configure the RMapplication to track spending on one or more desired criteria (e.g.,clothing merchandize, healthcare, month, and/or the like) and alert theuser upon or prior to reaching a user-specified threshold (e.g., $500dollars per month, $5000 deductible). Such aggregation facilities reducethe number of actions required to generate reports and perform analyseson aggregate transaction data.

ERM Controller

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram illustrating example aspects of a ERMcontroller 901. In this embodiment, the ERM controller 901 may serve toaggregate, process, store, search, serve, identify, instruct, generate,match, and/or facilitate interactions with a computer through varioustechnologies, and/or other related data.

Users, e.g., 933 a, which may be people and/or other systems, may engageinformation technology systems (e.g., computers) to facilitateinformation processing. In turn, computers employ processors to processinformation; such processors 903 may be referred to as centralprocessing units (CPU). One form of processor is referred to as amicroprocessor. CPUs use communicative circuits to pass binary encodedsignals acting as instructions to enable various operations. Theseinstructions may be operational and/or data instructions containingand/or referencing other instructions and data in various processoraccessible and operable areas of memory 929 (e.g., registers, cachememory, random access memory, etc.). Such communicative instructions maybe stored and/or transmitted in batches (e.g., batches of instructions)as programs and/or data components to facilitate desired operations.These stored instruction codes, e.g., programs, may engage the CPUcircuit components and other motherboard and/or system components toperform desired operations. One type of program is a computer operatingsystem, which, may be executed by CPU on a computer; the operatingsystem enables and facilitates users to access and operate computerinformation technology and resources. Some resources that may beemployed in information technology systems include: input and outputmechanisms through which data may pass into and out of a computer;memory storage into which data may be saved; and processors by whichinformation may be processed. These information technology systems maybe used to collect data for later retrieval, analysis, and manipulation,which may be facilitated through a database program. These informationtechnology systems provide interfaces that allow users to access andoperate various system components.

In one embodiment, the ERM controller 901 may be connected to and/orcommunicate with entities such as, but not limited to: one or more usersfrom user input devices 911; peripheral devices 912; an optionalcryptographic processor device 928; and/or a communications network 913.For example, the ERM controller 901 may be connected to and/orcommunicate with users, e.g., 933 a, operating client device(s), e.g.,933 b, including, but not limited to, personal computer(s), server(s)and/or various mobile device(s) including, but not limited to, cellulartelephone(s), smartphone(s) (e.g., iPhone®, Blackberry®, AndroidOS-based phones etc.), tablet computer(s) (e.g., Apple iPad™, HP Slate™,Motorola Xoom™, etc.), eBook reader(s) (e.g., Amazon Kindle™, Barnes andNoble's Nook™ eReader, etc.), laptop computer(s), notebook(s),netbook(s), gaming console(s) (e.g., XBOX Live™, Nintendo® DS, SonyPlayStation® Portable, etc.), portable scanner(s), and/or the like.

Networks are commonly thought to comprise the interconnection andinteroperation of clients, servers, and intermediary nodes in a graphtopology. It should be noted that the term “server” as used throughoutthis application refers generally to a computer, other device, program,or combination thereof that processes and responds to the requests ofremote users across a communications network. Servers serve theirinformation to requesting “clients.” The term “client” as used hereinrefers generally to a computer, program, other device, user and/orcombination thereof that is capable of processing and making requestsand obtaining and processing any responses from servers across acommunications network. A computer, other device, program, orcombination thereof that facilitates, processes information andrequests, and/or furthers the passage of information from a source userto a destination user is commonly referred to as a “node.” Networks aregenerally thought to facilitate the transfer of information from sourcepoints to destinations. A node specifically tasked with furthering thepassage of information from a source to a destination is commonly calleda “router.” There are many forms of networks such as Local Area Networks(LANs), Pico networks, Wide Area Networks (WANs), Wireless Networks(WLANs), etc. For example, the Internet is generally accepted as beingan interconnection of a multitude of networks whereby remote clients andservers may access and interoperate with one another.

The ERM controller 901 may be based on computer systems that maycomprise, but are not limited to, components such as: a computersystemization 902 connected to memory 929.

Computer Systemization

A computer systemization 902 may comprise a clock 930, centralprocessing unit (“CPU(s)” and/or “processor(s)” (these terms are usedinterchangeably throughout the disclosure unless noted to the contrary))903, a memory 929 (e.g., a read only memory (ROM) 906, a random accessmemory (RAM) 905, etc.), and/or an interface bus 907, and mostfrequently, although not necessarily, are all interconnected and/orcommunicating through a system bus 904 on one or more (mother)board(s)902 having conductive and/or otherwise transportive circuit pathwaysthrough which instructions (e.g., binary encoded signals) may travel toeffectuate communications, operations, storage, etc. The computersystemization may be connected to a power source 986; e.g., optionallythe power source may be internal. Optionally, a cryptographic processor926 and/or transceivers (e.g., ICs) 974 may be connected to the systembus. In another embodiment, the cryptographic processor and/ortransceivers may be connected as either internal and/or externalperipheral devices 912 via the interface bus I/O. In turn, thetransceivers may be connected to antenna(s) 975, thereby effectuatingwireless transmission and reception of various communication and/orsensor protocols; for example the antenna(s) may connect to: a TexasInstruments WiLink WL1283 transceiver chip (e.g., providing 802.11n,Bluetooth 3.0, FM, global positioning system (GPS) (thereby allowing ERMcontroller to determine its location)); Broadcom BCM4329FKUBGtransceiver chip (e.g., providing 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, FM, etc.),BCM28150 (HSPA+) and BCM2076 (Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, etc.); a BroadcomBCM47501UB8 receiver chip (e.g., GPS); an Infineon Technologies X-Gold618-PMB9800 (e.g., providing 2G/3G HSDPA/HSUPA communications); Intel'sXMM 7160 (LTE & DC-HSPA), Qualcom's CDMA(2000), Mobile Data/StationModem, Snapdragon; and/or the like. The system clock may have a crystaloscillator and generates a base signal through the computersystemization's circuit pathways. The clock may be coupled to the systembus and various clock multipliers that will increase or decrease thebase operating frequency for other components interconnected in thecomputer systemization. The clock and various components in a computersystemization drive signals embodying information throughout the system.Such transmission and reception of instructions embodying informationthroughout a computer systemization may be referred to ascommunications. These communicative instructions may further betransmitted, received, and the cause of return and/or replycommunications beyond the instant computer systemization to:communications networks, input devices, other computer systemizations,peripheral devices, and/or the like. It should be understood that inalternative embodiments, any of the above components may be connecteddirectly to one another, connected to the CPU, and/or organized innumerous variations employed as exemplified by various computer systems.

The CPU comprises at least one high-speed data processor adequate toexecute program components for executing user and/or system-generatedrequests. Often, the processors themselves will incorporate variousspecialized processing units, such as, but not limited to: floatingpoint units, integer processing units, integrated system (bus)controllers, logic operating units, memory management control units,etc., and even specialized processing sub-units like graphics processingunits, digital signal processing units, and/or the like. Additionally,processors may include internal fast access addressable memory, and becapable of mapping and addressing memory 929 beyond the processoritself; internal memory may include, but is not limited to: fastregisters, various levels of cache memory (e.g., level 1, 2, 3, etc.),RAM, etc. The processor may access this memory through the use of amemory address space that is accessible via instruction address, whichthe processor can construct and decode allowing it to access a circuitpath to a specific memory address space having a memory state/value. TheCPU may be a microprocessor such as: AMD's Athlon, Duron and/or Opteron;ARM's classic (e.g., ARM7/9/11), embedded (Coretx-M/R), application(Cortex-A), embedded and secure processors; IBM and/or Motorola'sDragonBall and PowerPC; IBM's and Sony's Cell processor; Intel's Atom,Celeron (Mobile), Core 2 (2/Duo/i3/i5/i7), Itanium, Pentium, Xeon,and/or XScale; and/or the like processor(s). The CPU interacts withmemory through instruction passing through conductive and/ortransportive conduits (e.g., (printed) electronic and/or optic circuits)to execute stored instructions (i.e., program code). Such instructionpassing facilitates communication within the ERM controller and beyondthrough various interfaces. Should processing requirements dictate agreater amount speed and/or capacity, distributed processors (e.g.,Distributed ERM), mainframe, multi-core, parallel, and/or super-computerarchitectures may similarly be employed. Alternatively, shoulddeployment requirements dictate greater portability, smaller mobiledevices (e.g., smartphones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), etc.)may be employed.

Depending on the particular implementation, features of the ERM may beachieved by implementing a microcontroller such as CAST's R8051XC2microcontroller; Intel's MCS 51 (i.e., 8051 microcontroller); and/or thelike. Also, to implement certain features of the ERM, some featureimplementations may rely on embedded components, such as:Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (“ASIC”), Digital SignalProcessing (“DSP”), Field Programmable Gate Array (“FPGA”), and/or thelike embedded technology. For example, any of the ERM componentcollection (distributed or otherwise) and/or features may be implementedvia the microprocessor and/or via embedded components; e.g., via ASIC,coprocessor, DSP, FPGA, and/or the like. Alternately, someimplementations of the ERM may be implemented with embedded componentsthat are configured and used to achieve a variety of features or signalprocessing.

Depending on the particular implementation, the embedded components mayinclude software solutions, hardware solutions, and/or some combinationof both hardware/software solutions. For example, ERM features discussedherein may be achieved through implementing FPGAs, which are asemiconductor devices containing programmable logic components called“logic blocks”, and programmable interconnects, such as the highperformance FPGA Virtex series and/or the low cost Spartan seriesmanufactured by Xilinx. Logic blocks and interconnects can be programmedby the customer or designer, after the FPGA is manufactured, toimplement any of the ERM features. A hierarchy of programmableinterconnects allow logic blocks to be interconnected as needed by theERM system designer/administrator, somewhat like a one-chip programmablebreadboard. An FPGA's logic blocks can be programmed to perform theoperation of basic logic gates such as AND, and XOR, or more complexcombinational operators such as decoders or simple mathematicaloperations. In most FPGAs, the logic blocks also include memoryelements, which may be circuit flip-flops or more complete blocks ofmemory. In some circumstances, the ERM may be developed on regular FPGAsand then migrated into a fixed version that more resembles ASICimplementations. Alternate or coordinating implementations may migrateERM controller features to a final ASIC instead of or in addition toFPGAs. Depending on the implementation all of the aforementionedembedded components and microprocessors may be considered the “CPU”and/or “processor” for the ERM.

Power Source

The power source 986 may be of any standard form for powering smallelectronic circuit board devices such as the following power cells:alkaline, lithium hydride, lithium ion, lithium polymer, nickel cadmium,solar cells, and/or the like. Other types of AC or DC power sources maybe used as well. In the case of solar cells, in one embodiment, the caseprovides an aperture through which the solar cell may capture photonicenergy. The power cell 986 is connected to at least one of theinterconnected subsequent components of the ERM thereby providing anelectric current to all the interconnected components. In one example,the power source 986 is connected to the system bus component 904. In analternative embodiment, an outside power source 986 is provided througha connection across the I/O 908 interface. For example, a USB and/orIEEE 1394 connection carries both data and power across the connectionand is therefore a suitable source of power.

Interface Adapters

Interface bus(ses) 907 may accept, connect, and/or communicate to anumber of interface adapters, frequently, although not necessarily inthe form of adapter cards, such as but not limited to: input outputinterfaces (I/O) 908, storage interfaces 909, network interfaces 910,and/or the like. Optionally, cryptographic processor interfaces 927similarly may be connected to the interface bus. The interface busprovides for the communications of interface adapters with one anotheras well as with other components of the computer systemization.Interface adapters are adapted for a compatible interface bus. Interfaceadapters may connect to the interface bus via expansion and/or slotarchitecture. Various expansion and/or slot architectures may beemployed, such as, but not limited to: Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP),Card Bus, ExpressCard, (Extended) Industry Standard Architecture((E)ISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), NuBus, Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (Extended) (PCI(X)), PCI Express, Personal Computer MemoryCard International Association (PCMCIA), Thunderbolt, and/or the like.

Storage interfaces 909 may accept, communicate, and/or connect to anumber of storage devices such as, but not limited to: storage devices914, removable disc devices, and/or the like. Storage interfaces mayemploy connection protocols such as, but not limited to: (Ultra)(Serial) Advanced Technology Attachment (Packet Interface) ((Ultra)(Serial) ATA(PI)), (Enhanced) Integrated Drive Electronics ((E)IDE),Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394, Ethernet,fiber channel, Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), Thunderbolt,Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or the like.

Network interfaces 910 may accept, communicate, and/or connect to acommunications network 913. Through a communications network 913, theERM controller is accessible through remote clients 933 b (e.g.,computers with web browsers) by users 933 a. Network interfaces mayemploy connection protocols such as, but not limited to: direct connect,Ethernet (thick, thin, twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T, and/or thelike), Token Ring, wireless connection such as IEEE 802.11a-x, and/orthe like. Should processing requirements dictate a greater amount speedand/or capacity, distributed network controllers (e.g., DistributedERM), architectures may similarly be employed to pool, load balance,and/or otherwise increase the communicative bandwidth required by theERM controller. A communications network may be any one and/or thecombination of the following: a direct interconnection; the Internet; aLocal Area Network (LAN); a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN); anOperating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI); a secured customconnection; a Wide Area Network (WAN); a wireless network (e.g.,employing protocols such as, but not limited to a Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP), I-mode, and/or the like); and/or the like. A networkinterface may be regarded as a specialized form of an input outputinterface. Further, multiple network interfaces 910 may be used toengage with various communications network types 913. For example,multiple network interfaces may be employed to allow for thecommunication over broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast networks.

Input Output interfaces (I/O) 908 may accept, communicate, and/orconnect to user input devices 911, peripheral devices 912, cryptographicprocessor devices 928, and/or the like. I/O may employ connectionprotocols such as, but not limited to: audio: analog, digital, monaural,RCA, stereo, and/or the like; data: Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), Bluetooth,IEEE 1394a-b, serial, universal serial bus (USB); infrared; joystick;keyboard; midi; optical; PC AT; PS/2; parallel; radio; video interface:Apple Desktop Connector (ADC), BNC, coaxial, component, composite,digital, DisplayPort, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), high-definitionmultimedia interface (HDMI), RCA, RF antennae, S-Video, VGA, and/or thelike; wireless transceivers: 802.11a/b/g/n/x; Bluetooth, cellular (e.g.,code division multiple access (CDMA), high speed packet access(HSPA(+)), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), global system formobile communications (GSM), long term evolution (LTE), WiMax, etc.);and/or the like. One output device may be a video display, which maytake the form of a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD),Light Emitting Diode (LED), Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), Plasma,and/or the like based monitor with an interface (e.g., VGA, DVIcircuitry and cable) that accepts signals from a video interface. Thevideo interface composites information generated by a computersystemization and generates video signals based on the compositedinformation in a video memory frame. Another output device is atelevision set, which accepts signals from a video interface. Often, thevideo interface provides the composited video information through avideo connection interface that accepts a video display interface (e.g.,an RCA composite video connector accepting an RCA composite video cable;a DVI connector accepting a DVI display cable, HDMI, etc.).

User input devices 911 often are a type of peripheral device 912 (seebelow) and may include: card readers, dongles, finger print readers,gloves, graphics tablets, joysticks, keyboards, microphones, mouse(mice), remote controls, retina readers, touch screens (e.g.,capacitive, resistive, etc.), trackballs, trackpads, sensors (e.g.,accelerometers, ambient light, GPS, gyroscopes, proximity, etc.),styluses, and/or the like.

Peripheral devices 912 may be connected and/or communicate to I/O and/orother facilities of the like such as network interfaces, storageinterfaces, directly to the interface bus, system bus, the CPU, and/orthe like. Peripheral devices may be external, internal and/or part ofthe ERM controller. Peripheral devices may include: antenna, audiodevices (e.g., line-in, line-out, microphone input, speakers, etc.),cameras (e.g., still, video, webcam, etc.), dongles (e.g., for copyprotection, ensuring secure transactions with a digital signature,and/or the like), external processors (for added capabilities; e.g.,crypto devices 928), force-feedback devices (e.g., vibrating motors),near field communication (NFC) devices, network interfaces, printers,radio frequency identifiers (RFIDs), scanners, storage devices,transceivers (e.g., cellular, GPS, etc.), video devices (e.g., goggles,monitors, etc.), video sources, visors, and/or the like. Peripheraldevices often include types of input devices (e.g., microphones,cameras, etc.).

It should be noted that although user input devices and peripheraldevices may be employed, the ERM controller may be embodied as anembedded, dedicated, and/or monitor-less (i.e., headless) device,wherein access would be provided over a network interface connection.

Cryptographic units such as, but not limited to, microcontrollers,processors 926, interfaces 927, and/or devices 928 may be attached,and/or communicate with the ERM controller. A MC68HC16 microcontroller,manufactured by Motorola Inc., may be used for and/or withincryptographic units. The MC68HC16 microcontroller utilizes a 16-bitmultiply-and-accumulate instruction in the 16 MHz configuration andrequires less than one second to perform a 512-bit RSA private keyoperation. Cryptographic units support the authentication ofcommunications from interacting agents, as well as allowing foranonymous transactions. Cryptographic units may also be configured aspart of the CPU. Equivalent microcontrollers and/or processors may alsobe used. Other commercially available specialized cryptographicprocessors include: the Broadcom's CryptoNetX and other SecurityProcessors; nCipher's nShield (e.g., Solo, Connect, etc.), SafeNet'sLuna PCI (e.g., 7100) series; Semaphore Communications' 40 MHzRoadrunner 184; sMIP's (e.g., 208956); Sun's Cryptographic Accelerators(e.g., Accelerator 6000 PCIe Board, Accelerator 500 Daughtercard); ViaNano Processor (e.g., L2100, L2200, U2400) line, which is capable ofperforming 500+MB/s of cryptographic instructions; VLSI Technology's 33MHz 6868; and/or the like.

Memory

Generally, any mechanization and/or embodiment allowing a processor toaffect the storage and/or retrieval of information is regarded as memory929. However, memory is a fungible technology and resource, thus, anynumber of memory embodiments may be employed in lieu of or in concertwith one another. It is to be understood that the ERM controller and/ora computer systemization may employ various forms of memory 929. Forexample, a computer systemization may be configured wherein theoperation of on-chip CPU memory (e.g., registers), RAM, ROM, and anyother storage devices are provided by a paper punch tape or paper punchcard mechanism; however, such an embodiment would result in an extremelyslow rate of operation. In one configuration, memory 929 may include ROM906, RAM 905, and a storage device 914. A storage device 914 may employany number of computer storage devices/systems. Storage devices mayinclude a drum; a (fixed and/or removable) magnetic disk drive; amagneto-optical drive; an optical drive (i.e., Blueray, CDROM/RAM/Recordable (R)/ReWritable (RW), DVD R/RW, HD DVD R/RW etc.); anarray of devices (e.g., Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID));solid state memory devices (USB memory, solid state drives (SSD), etc.);other processor-readable storage mediums; and/or other devices of thelike. Thus, a computer systemization generally requires and makes use ofmemory.

Component Collection

The memory 929 may contain a collection of program and/or databasecomponents and/or data such as, but not limited to: operating systemcomponent(s) 915 (operating system); information server component(s) 916(information server); user interface component(s) 917 (user interface);Web browser component(s) 918 (Web browser); database(s) 919; mail servercomponent(s) 921; mail client component(s) 922; cryptographic servercomponent(s) 92 o (cryptographic server); the ERM component(s) 935;and/or the like (i.e., collectively a component collection). Thesecomponents may be stored and accessed from the storage devices and/orfrom storage devices accessible through an interface bus. Althoughnon-conventional program components such as those in the componentcollection may be stored in a local storage device 914, they may also beloaded and/or stored in memory such as: peripheral devices, RAM, remotestorage facilities through a communications network, ROM, various formsof memory, and/or the like.

Operating System

The operating system component 915 is an executable program componentfacilitating the operation of the ERM controller. The operating systemmay facilitate access of I/O, network interfaces, peripheral devices,storage devices, and/or the like. The operating system may be a highlyfault tolerant, scalable, and secure system such as: Apple Macintosh OSX (Server); AT&T Nan 9; Be OS; Unix and Unix-like system distributions(such as AT&T's UNIX; Berkley Software Distribution (BSD) variationssuch as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and/or the like; Linux distributionssuch as Red Hat, Ubuntu, and/or the like); and/or the like operatingsystems. However, more limited and/or less secure operating systems alsomay be employed such as Apple Macintosh OS, IBM OS/2, Microsoft DOS,Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/Vista/XP (Server),Palm OS, and/or the like. In addition, emobile operating systems such asApple's iOS, Google's Android, Hewlett Packard's WebOS, MicrosoftsWindows Mobile, and/or the like may be employed. Any of these operatingsystems may be embedded within the hardware of the NICK controller,and/or stored/loaded into memory/storage. An operating system maycommunicate to and/or with other components in a component collection,including itself, and/or the like. Most frequently, the operating systemcommunicates with other program components, user interfaces, and/or thelike. For example, the operating system may contain, communicate,generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/ordata communications, requests, and/or responses. The operating system,once executed by the CPU, may enable the interaction with communicationsnetworks, data, I/O, peripheral devices, program components, memory,user input devices, and/or the like. The operating system may providecommunications protocols that allow the ERM controller to communicatewith other entities through a communications network 913. Variouscommunication protocols may be used by the ERM controller as asubcarrier transport mechanism for interaction, such as, but not limitedto: multicast, TCP/IP, UDP, unicast, and/or the like.

Information Server

An information server component 916 is a stored program component thatis executed by a CPU. The information server may be an Internetinformation server such as, but not limited to Apache SoftwareFoundation's Apache, Microsoft's Internet Information Server, and/or thelike. The information server may allow for the execution of programcomponents through facilities such as Active Server Page (ASP), ActiveX,(ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, Common Gateway Interface(CGI) scripts, dynamic (D) hypertext markup language (HTML), FLASH,Java, JavaScript, Practical Extraction Report Language (PERL), HypertextPre-Processor (PHP), pipes, Python, wireless application protocol (WAP),WebObjects, and/or the like. The information server may support securecommunications protocols such as, but not limited to, File TransferProtocol (FTP); HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); Secure HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), messagingprotocols (e.g., America Online (AOL) Instant Messenger (AIM), Apple'siMessage, Application Exchange (APEX), ICQ, Internet Relay Chat (IRC),Microsoft Network (MSN) Messenger Service, Presence and InstantMessaging Protocol (PRIM), Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's)Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), SIP for Instant Messaging andPresence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), open XML-based ExtensibleMessaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) (i.e., Jabber or Open MobileAlliance's (OMA's) Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS)),Yahoo! Instant Messenger Service, and/or the like. The informationserver provides results in the form of Web pages to Web browsers, andallows for the manipulated generation of the Web pages throughinteraction with other program components. After a Domain Name System(DNS) resolution portion of an HTTP request is resolved to a particularinformation server, the information server resolves requests forinformation at specified locations on the ERM controller based on theremainder of the HTTP request. For example, a request such ashttp://123.124.125.126/myInformation.html might have the IP portion ofthe request “123.124.125.126” resolved by a DNS server to an informationserver at that IP address; that information server might in turn furtherparse the http request for the “/myInformation.html” portion of therequest and resolve it to a location in memory containing theinformation “myInformation.html.” Additionally, other informationserving protocols may be employed across various ports, e.g., FTPcommunications across port 21, and/or the like. An information servermay communicate to and/or with other components in a componentcollection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Mostfrequently, the information server communicates with the ERM database919, operating systems, other program components, user interfaces, Webbrowsers, and/or the like.

Access to the ERM database may be achieved through a number of databasebridge mechanisms such as through scripting languages as enumeratedbelow (e.g., CGI) and through inter-application communication channelsas enumerated below (e.g., CORBA, WebObjects, etc.). Any data requeststhrough a Web browser are parsed through the bridge mechanism intoappropriate grammars as required by the ERM. In one embodiment, theinformation server would provide a Web form accessible by a Web browser.Entries made into supplied fields in the Web form are tagged as havingbeen entered into the particular fields, and parsed as such. The enteredterms are then passed along with the field tags, which act to instructthe parser to generate queries directed to appropriate tables and/orfields. In one embodiment, the parser may generate queries in standardSQL by instantiating a search string with the proper join/selectcommands based on the tagged text entries, wherein the resulting commandis provided over the bridge mechanism to the ERM as a query. Upongenerating query results from the query, the results are passed over thebridge mechanism, and may be parsed for formatting and generation of anew results Web page by the bridge mechanism. Such a new results Webpage is then provided to the information server, which may supply it tothe requesting Web browser.

Also, an information server may contain, communicate, generate, obtain,and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or datacommunications, requests, and/or responses.

User Interface

Computer interfaces in some respects are similar to automobile operationinterfaces. Automobile operation interface elements such as steeringwheels, gearshifts, and speedometers facilitate the access, operation,and display of automobile resources, and status. Computer interactioninterface elements such as check boxes, cursors, menus, scrollers, andwindows (collectively and commonly referred to as widgets) similarlyfacilitate the access, capabilities, operation, and display of data andcomputer hardware and operating system resources, and status. Operationinterfaces are commonly called user interfaces. Graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) such as the Apple Macintosh Operating System's Aquaand iOS's Cocoa Touch, IBM's OS/2, Google's Android Mobile UI,Microsoft's Windows 2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/15Mobile/NT/XP/Vista/7/8 (i.e., Aero, Metro), Unix's X-Windows (e.g.,which may include additional Unix graphic interface libraries and layerssuch as K Desktop Environment (KDE), mythTV and GNU Network Object ModelEnvironment 18 (GNOME)), web interface libraries (e.g., ActiveX, AJAX,(D)HTML, FLASH, Java, JavaScript, etc. interface libraries such as, butnot limited to, Dojo, jQuery(UI), MooTools, Prototype, script.aculo.us,SWFObject, Yahoo! User Interface, any of which may be used and) providea baseline and means of accessing and displaying information graphicallyto users.

A user interface component 917 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU. The user interface may be a graphic user interface asprovided by, with, and/or atop operating systems and/or operatingenvironments such as already discussed. The user interface may allow forthe display, execution, interaction, manipulation, and/or operation ofprogram components and/or system facilities through textual and/orgraphical facilities. The user interface provides a facility throughwhich users may affect, interact, and/or operate a computer system. Auser interface may communicate to and/or with other components in acomponent collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like.Most frequently, the user interface communicates with operating systems,other program components, and/or the like. The user interface maycontain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide programcomponent, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/orresponses.

Web Browser

A Web browser component 918 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU. The Web browser may be a hypertext viewingapplication such as Goofle's (Mobile) Chrome, Microsoft InternetExplorer, Netscape Navigator, Apple's (Mobile) Safari, embedded webbrowser objects such as through Apple's Cocoa (Touch) object class,and/or the like. Secure Web browsing may be supplied with 128 bit (orgreater) encryption by way of HTTPS, SSL, and/or the like. Web browsersallowing for the execution of program components through facilities suchas ActiveX, AJAX, (D)HTML, FLASH, Java, JavaScript, web browser plug-inAPIs (e.g., Chrome, FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari Plug-in, and/orthe like APIs), and/or the like. Web browsers and like informationaccess tools may be integrated into PDAs, cellular telephones,smartphones, and/or other mobile devices. A Web browser may communicateto and/or with other components in a component collection, includingitself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, the Web browsercommunicates with information servers, operating systems, integratedprogram components (e.g., plug-ins), and/or the like; e.g., it maycontain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide programcomponent, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/orresponses. Also, in place of a Web browser and information server, acombined application may be developed to perform similar operations ofboth. The combined application would similarly effect the obtaining andthe provision of information to users, user agents, and/or the like fromthe ERM equipped nodes. The combined application may be nugatory onsystems employing standard Web browsers.

Mail Server

A mail server component 921 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU 903. The mail server may be an Internet mail serversuch as, but not limited to Apple's Mail Server (3), dovect, sendmail,Microsoft Exchange, and/or the like. The mail server may allow for theexecution of program components through facilities such as ASP, ActiveX,(ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, CGI scripts, Java,JavaScript, PERL, PHP, pipes, Python, WebObjects, and/or the like. Themail server may support communications protocols such as, but notlimited to: Internet message access protocol (IMAP), MessagingApplication Programming Interface (MAPI)/Microsoft Exchange, post officeprotocol (POP3), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and/or the like.The mail server can route, forward, and process incoming and outgoingmail messages that have been sent, relayed and/or otherwise traversingthrough and/or to the ERM.

Access to the ERM mail may be achieved through a number of APIs offeredby the individual Web server components and/or the operating system.

Also, a mail server may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/orprovide program component, system, user, and/or data communications,requests, information, and/or responses.

Mail Client

A mail client component 922 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU 903. The mail client may be a mail viewing applicationsuch as Apple (Mobile) Mail, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Outlook,Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla, Thunderbird, and/or the like. Mailclients may support a number of transfer protocols, such as: IMAP,Microsoft Exchange, POP3, SMTP, and/or the like. A mail client maycommunicate to and/or with other components in a component collection,including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, themail client communicates with mail servers, operating systems, othermail clients, and/or the like; e.g., it may contain, communicate,generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/ordata communications, requests, information, and/or responses. Generally,the mail client provides a facility to compose and transmit electronicmail messages.

Cryptographic Server

A cryptographic server component 920 is a stored program component thatis executed by a CPU 903, cryptographic processor 926, cryptographicprocessor interface 927, cryptographic processor device 928, and/or thelike. Cryptographic processor interfaces will allow for expedition ofencryption and/or decryption requests by the cryptographic component;however, the cryptographic component, alternatively, may run on a CPU.The cryptographic component allows for the encryption and/or decryptionof provided data. The cryptographic component allows for both symmetricand asymmetric (e.g., Pretty Good Protection (PGP)) encryption and/ordecryption. The cryptographic component may employ cryptographictechniques such as, but not limited to: digital certificates (e.g.,X.509 authentication framework), digital signatures, dual signatures,enveloping, password access protection, public key management, and/orthe like. The cryptographic component will facilitate numerous(encryption and/or decryption) security protocols such as, but notlimited to: checksum, Data Encryption Standard (DES), Elliptical CurveEncryption (ECC), International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA),Message Digest 5 (MD5, which is a one way hash operation), passwords,Rivest Cipher (RC5), Rijndael, RSA (which is an Internet encryption andauthentication system that uses an algorithm developed in 1977 by RonRivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman), Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA),Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS),and/or the like. Employing such encryption security protocols, the ERMmay encrypt all incoming and/or outgoing communications and may serve asnode within a virtual private network (VPN) with a wider communicationsnetwork. The cryptographic component facilitates the process of“security authorization” whereby access to a resource is inhibited by asecurity protocol wherein the cryptographic component effects authorizedaccess to the secured resource. In addition, the cryptographic componentmay provide unique identifiers of content, e.g., employing and MD5 hashto obtain a unique signature for an digital audio file. A cryptographiccomponent may communicate to and/or with other components in a componentcollection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Thecryptographic component supports encryption schemes allowing for thesecure transmission of information across a communications network toenable the ERM component to engage in secure transactions if so desired.The cryptographic component facilitates the secure accessing ofresources on the ERM and facilitates the access of secured resources onremote systems; i.e., it may act as a client and/or server of securedresources. Most frequently, the cryptographic component communicateswith information servers, operating systems, other program components,and/or the like. The cryptographic component may contain, communicate,generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/ordata communications, requests, and/or responses.

The ERM Database

The ERM database component 919 may be embodied in a database and itsstored data. The database is a stored program component, which isexecuted by the CPU; the stored program component portion configuringthe CPU to process the stored data. The database may be any of a numberof fault tolerant, relational, scalable, secure databases, such as DB2,MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, and/or the like. Relational databases are anextension of a flat file. Relational databases consist of a series ofrelated tables. The tables are interconnected via a key field. Use ofthe key field allows the combination of the tables by indexing againstthe key field; i.e., the key fields act as dimensional pivot points forcombining information from various tables. Relationships generallyidentify links maintained between tables by matching primary keys.Primary keys represent fields that uniquely identify the rows of a tablein a relational database. More precisely, they uniquely identify rows ofa table on the “one” side of a one-to-many relationship.

Alternatively, the ERM database may be implemented using variousstandard data-structures, such as an array, hash, (linked) list, struct,structured text file (e.g., XML), table, and/or the like. Suchdata-structures may be stored in memory and/or in (structured) files. Inanother alternative, an object-oriented database may be used, such asFrontier, ObjectStore, Poet, Zope, and/or the like. Object databases caninclude a number of object collections that are grouped and/or linkedtogether by common attributes; they may be related to other objectcollections by some common attributes. Object-oriented databases performsimilarly to relational databases with the exception that objects arenot just pieces of data but may have other types of capabilitiesencapsulated within a given object. If the ERM database is implementedas a data-structure, the use of the ERM database 919 may be integratedinto another component such as the ERM component 935. Also, the databasemay be implemented as a mix of data structures, objects, and relationalstructures. Databases may be consolidated and/or distributed incountless variations through standard data processing techniques.Portions of databases, e.g., tables, may be exported and/or imported andthus decentralized and/or integrated.

In one embodiment, the database component 919 includes several tables919 a-h. A Users table 919 a may include fields such as, but not limitedto: user_id, ssn, dob, first_name, last_name, age, state,address_firstline, address_secondline, zipcode, devices_list,contact_info, contact_type, alt contact_info, alt contact_type, emailaddress, password, enrollment status, report_ID, report preference,preference and/or the like. The Users table may support and/or trackmultiple entity accounts on a ERM. A Clients table 919 b may includefields such as, but not limited to: client_ID, user_ID, client_name,client_IP, client_GPS, client_MAC, client_serial, client_ECID,client_UDID, client_browser, client_type, client_model, client_version,client_OS, client_apps_list, client_securekey, and/or the like. AReceipt table 919 c may include fields such as, but not limited to:receipt_ID, user_receipt_ID, receipt_path, merchant_transaction_ID,processor_transaction_ID, transaction_date, merchant_ID, purchasecategory, payment card, receipt amount, return eligibility expiry date,return eligibility status date, and/or the like. A Transaction table 919d may include fields such as, but not limited to:merchant_transaction_ID, TPS_transaction_ID, transaction_date,transaction amount, product ID, receipt_ID, and/or the like. An Issuertable 919 e may include fields such as, but not limited to: issuer_ID,issuer name, issuer address, user_ID, username, password, and/or thelike. A Merchant table 919 f may include fields such as, but not limitedto: merchant_ID, merchant name, merchant address, merchant categorycode, merchant receipt delivery method, and/or the like. A Report table919 g may include fields such as, but not limited to: report_ID, reportformat, report type, report criteria, and/or the like. A Product table919 h may include fields such as, but not limited to: product_ID,product SKU, product name, product mode, price, and/or the like. In oneembodiment, the ERM database may interact with other database systems.For example, employing a distributed database system, queries and dataaccess by search ERM component may treat the combination of the ERMdatabase, an integrated data security layer database as a singledatabase entity.

In one embodiment, user programs may contain various user interfaceprimitives, which may serve to update the ERM. Also, various accountsmay require custom database tables depending upon the environments andthe types of clients the ERM may need to serve. It should be noted thatany unique fields may be designated as a key field throughout. In analternative embodiment, these tables have been decentralized into theirown databases and their respective database controllers (i.e.,individual database controllers for each of the above tables). Employingstandard data processing techniques, one may further distribute thedatabases over several computer systemizations and/or storage devices.Similarly, configurations of the decentralized database controllers maybe varied by consolidating and/or distributing the various databasecomponents 919 a-h. The ERM may be configured to keep track of varioussettings, inputs, and parameters via database controllers.

The ERM database may communicate to and/or with other components in acomponent collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like.Most frequently, the ERM database communicates with the ERM component,other program components, and/or the like. The database may contain,retain, and provide information regarding other nodes and data.

The ERMs

The ERM component 935 is a stored program component that is executed bya CPU. In one embodiment, the ERM component incorporates any and/or allcombinations of the aspects of the ERM discussed in the previousfigures. As such, the ERM affects accessing, obtaining and the provisionof information, services, transactions, and/or the like across variouscommunications networks. The features and embodiments of the ERMdiscussed herein increase network efficiency by reducing data transferrequirements the use of more efficient data structures and mechanismsfor their transfer and storage. As a consequence, more data may betransferred in less time, and latencies with regard to transactions, arealso reduced. In many cases, such reduction in storage, transfer time,bandwidth requirements, latencies, etc., will reduce the capacity andstructural infrastructure requirements to support the ERM's features andfacilities, and in many cases reduce the costs, energyconsumption/requirements, and extend the life of ERM's underlyinginfrastructure; this has the added benefit of making the ERM morereliable. Similarly, many of the features and mechanisms are designed tobe easier for users to use and access, thereby broadening the audiencethat may enjoy/employ and exploit the feature sets of the ERM; such easeof use also helps to increase the reliability of the ERM. In addition,the feature sets include heightened security as noted via theCryptographic components 92 o, 926, 928 and throughout, making access tothe features and data more reliable and secure.

The ERM component may transform transaction initiation requests andreceipt requests via ERM components into receipt formatting,organization, storage and linkage with transactions, and/or like use ofthe ERM. In one embodiment, the ERM component 935 takes inputs (e.g.,payment input 202 a, add receipt to RM application input 214, accountlogin detail input 250, select view receipt input 260; and/or the like)etc., and transforms the inputs via various components (e.g., RMcomponent 941 URS component 942, ARS component 943, RC component 944, RQcomponent 945; and/or the like), into outputs (e.g., purchase request202 b, transaction authorization request message 204, transactionauthorization response message 208, receipt 210, receipt sync request216, receipt sync confirmation message 222, receipt identifier andtransaction details message 226, user authentication request message252, user authentication response message 256, receipt request message262 a, 264 a, 262 b, receipt response message 264 a, 264 b, receiptquery 268, receipt 272, receipt data 274; and/or the like).

The ERM component enabling access of information between nodes may bedeveloped by employing standard development tools and languages such as,but not limited to: Apache components, Assembly, ActiveX, binaryexecutables, (ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, databaseadapters, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, mapping tools, procedural andobject oriented development tools, PERL, PHP, Python, shell scripts, SQLcommands, web application server extensions, web developmentenvironments and libraries (e.g., Microsoft's ActiveX; Adobe AIR, FLEX &FLASH; AJAX; (D)HTML; Dojo, Java; JavaScript; jQuery(UI); MooTools;Prototype; script.aculo.us; Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP);SWFObject; Yahoo! User Interface; and/or the like), WebObjects, and/orthe like. In one embodiment, the ERM server employs a cryptographicserver to encrypt and decrypt communications. The ERM component maycommunicate to and/or with other components in a component collection,including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, theERM component communicates with the ERM database, operating systems,other program components, and/or the like. The ERM may contain,communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system,user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.

Distributed ERMs

The structure and/or operation of any of the ERM node controllercomponents may be combined, consolidated, and/or distributed in anynumber of ways to facilitate development and/or deployment. Similarly,the component collection may be combined in any number of ways tofacilitate deployment and/or development. To accomplish this, one mayintegrate the components into a common code base or in a facility thatcan dynamically load the components on demand in an integrated fashion.

The component collection may be consolidated and/or distributed incountless variations through standard data processing and/or developmenttechniques. Multiple instances of any one of the program components inthe program component collection may be instantiated on a single node,and/or across numerous nodes to improve performance throughload-balancing and/or data-processing techniques. Furthermore, singleinstances may also be distributed across multiple controllers and/orstorage devices; e.g., databases. All program component instances andcontrollers working in concert may do so through standard dataprocessing communication techniques.

The configuration of the ERM controller will depend on the context ofsystem deployment. Factors such as, but not limited to, the budget,capacity, location, and/or use of the underlying hardware resources mayaffect deployment requirements and configuration. Regardless of if theconfiguration results in more consolidated and/or integrated programcomponents, results in a more distributed series of program components,and/or results in some combination between a consolidated anddistributed configuration, data may be communicated, obtained, and/orprovided. Instances of components consolidated into a common code basefrom the program component collection may communicate, obtain, and/orprovide data. This may be accomplished through intra-application dataprocessing communication techniques such as, but not limited to: datareferencing (e.g., pointers), internal messaging, object instancevariable communication, shared memory space, variable passing, and/orthe like.

If component collection components are discrete, separate, and/orexternal to one another, then communicating, obtaining, and/or providingdata with and/or to other components may be accomplished throughinter-application data processing communication techniques such as, butnot limited to: Application Program Interfaces (API) informationpassage; (distributed) Component Object Model ((D)COM), (Distributed)Object Linking and Embedding ((D)OLE), and/or the like), Common ObjectRequest Broker Architecture (CORBA), Jini local and remote applicationprogram interfaces, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Remote MethodInvocation (RMI), SOAP, process pipes, shared files, and/or the like.Messages sent between discrete component components forinter-application communication or within memory spaces of a singularcomponent for intra-application communication may be facilitated throughthe creation and parsing of a grammar. A grammar may be developed byusing development tools such as lex, yacc, XML, and/or the like, whichallow for grammar generation and parsing capabilities, which in turn mayform the basis of communication messages within and between components.

For example, a grammar may be arranged to recognize the tokens of anHTTP post command, e.g.:

-   -   w3c-post http:// . . . Value1

where Value1 is discerned as being a parameter because “http://” is partof the grammar syntax, and what follows is considered part of the postvalue. Similarly, with such a grammar, a variable “Value1” may beinserted into an “http://” post command and then sent. The grammarsyntax itself may be presented as structured data that is interpretedand/or otherwise used to generate the parsing mechanism (e.g., a syntaxdescription text file as processed by lex, yacc, etc.). Also, once theparsing mechanism is generated and/or instantiated, it itself mayprocess and/or parse structured data such as, but not limited to:character (e.g., tab) delineated text, HTML, structured text streams,XML, and/or the like structured data. In another embodiment,inter-application data processing protocols themselves may haveintegrated and/or readily available parsers (e.g., JSON, SOAP, and/orlike parsers) that may be employed to parse (e.g., communications) data.Further, the parsing grammar may be used beyond message parsing, but mayalso be used to parse: databases, data collections, data stores,structured data, and/or the like. Again, the desired configuration willdepend upon the context, environment, and requirements of systemdeployment.

For example, in some implementations, the ERM controller may beexecuting a PHP script implementing a Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”)socket server via the information server, which listens to incomingcommunications on a server port to which a client may send data, e.g.,data encoded in JSON format. Upon identifying an incoming communication,the PHP script may read the incoming message from the client device,parse the received JSON-encoded text data to extract information fromthe JSON-encoded text data into PHP script variables, and store the data(e.g., client identifying information, etc.) and/or extractedinformation in a relational database accessible using the StructuredQuery Language (“SQL”). An exemplary listing, written substantially inthe form of PHP/SQL commands, to accept JSON-encoded input data from aclient device via a SSL connection, parse the data to extract variables,and store the data to a database, is provided below:

<?PHP header(‘Content-Type: text/plain’); // set ip address and port tolisten to for incoming data $address = ‘192.168.0.100’; $port = 255; //create a server-side SSL socket, listen for/accept incomingcommunication $sock = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);socket_bind($sock, $address, $port) or die(‘Could not bind to address’);socket_listen($sock); $client = socket_accept($sock); // read input datafrom client device in 1024 byte blocks until end of message do {  $input = “”;   $input = socket_read($client, 1024);   $data .= $input;} while($input != “”); // parse data to extract variables $obj =json_decode($data, true); // store input data in a databasemysql_connect(″201.408.185.132″,$DBserver,$password); // access databaseserver mysql_select(″CLIENT_DB.SQL″); // select database to appendmysql_query(“INSERT INTO UserTable (transmission) VALUES ($data)”); //add data to UserTable table in a CLIENT databasemysql_close(″CLIENT_DB.SQL″); // close connection to database ?>

Also, the following resources may be used to provide example embodimentsregarding SOAP parser implementation:

http://www.xav.com/perl/site/lib/SOAP/Parser.htmlhttp://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v2r1/index.jsp?topic=/  com.ibm.IBMDI.doc/referenceguide295.htm

and other parser implementations:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v2r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.IBMDI.doc/referenceguide259.htm

all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety ofthis application for ELECTRONIC RECEIPT MANAGER APPARATUSES, METHODS ANDSYSTEMS (including the Cover Page, Title, Headings, Field, Background,Summary, Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description,Claims, Abstract, Figures, Appendices and/or otherwise) shows by way ofillustration various example embodiments in which the claimedinnovations may be practiced. The advantages and features of theapplication are of a representative sample of embodiments only, and arenot exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are presented only to assist inunderstanding and teach the claimed principles. It should be understoodthat they are not representative of all claimed innovations. As such,certain aspects of the disclosure have not been discussed herein. Thatalternate embodiments may not have been presented for a specific portionof the innovations or that further undescribed alternate embodiments maybe available for a portion is not to be considered a disclaimer of thosealternate embodiments. It will be appreciated that many of thoseundescribed embodiments incorporate the same principles of theinnovations and others are equivalent. Thus, it is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and functional, logical, operational,organizational, structural and/or topological modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope and/or spirit of the disclosure. Assuch, all examples and/or embodiments are deemed to be non-limitingthroughout this disclosure. Also, no inference should be drawn regardingthose embodiments discussed herein relative to those not discussedherein other than it is as such for purposes of reducing space andrepetition. For instance, it is to be understood that the logical and/ortopological structure of any combination of any data flow sequence(s),program components (a component collection), other components and/or anypresent feature sets as described in the figures and/or throughout arenot limited to a fixed operating order and/or arrangement, but rather,any disclosed order is exemplary and all equivalents, regardless oforder, are contemplated by the disclosure. Furthermore, it is to beunderstood that such features are not limited to serial execution, butrather, any number of threads, processes, processors, services, servers,and/or the like that may execute asynchronously, concurrently, inparallel, simultaneously, synchronously, and/or the like are alsocontemplated by the disclosure. As such, some of these features may bemutually contradictory, in that they cannot be simultaneously present ina single embodiment. Similarly, some features are applicable to oneaspect of the innovations, and inapplicable to others. In addition, thedisclosure includes other innovations not presently claimed. Applicantreserves all rights in those presently unclaimed innovations, includingthe right to claim such innovations, file additional applications,continuations, continuations-in-part, divisions, and/or the likethereof. As such, it should be understood that advantages, embodiments,examples, functional, features, logical, operational, organizational,structural, topological, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are notto be considered limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claimsor limitations on equivalents to the claims. It is to be understoodthat, depending on the particular needs and/or characteristics of a ERMindividual and/or enterprise user, database configuration and/orrelational model, data type, data transmission and/or network framework,syntax structure, and/or the like, various embodiments of the ERM may beimplemented that allow a great deal of flexibility and customization.For example, aspects of the ERM may be adapted for finance management.While various embodiments and discussions of the ERM have been directedto managing, organizing and viewing receipts, however, it is to beunderstood that the embodiments described herein may be readilyconfigured and/or customized for a wide variety of other applicationsand/or implementations.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processor-implemented method for managingreceipts on a portable device, comprising: receiving a receipt havingreceipt data through an interface of a portable device, the receiptincluding a plurality of receipt parameters; uploading the receipt to acloud storage system; receiving custom report parameters through aninput device of the portable device, the custom report parametersspecifying one or more of the plurality of receipt parameters;transmitting the custom report parameters to the cloud storage system;receiving a request for a receipt history report from a user, includingat least one receipt query parameter; transmitting the at least onereceipt query parameter to the cloud storage system; receiving reportdata from the cloud storage system including receipt data for receiptsstored on the cloud storage system that satisfy the at least one receiptquery parameter, the report data having receipt parameters inconformance to the custom report parameters; generating the receipthistory report based on the report data and providing the generatedreceipt history report on the interface of the portable device;formatting the report data into a set of fields selected according to auser preference selection comprising the custom report parameters,wherein the set of fields are determined based on at least one of adisplay size and capacity of a memory element of the portable device;receiving a request from the user to display a new field that isavailable from the receipt data but was not selected according to theuser preference selection; and in response to the request, obtainingdata for the new field and reformatting the report data to display thenew field in the receipt history report.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the interface of the portable device for receiving the receiptincludes an e-mail interface and an image capture interface.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the set of fields includes a returneligibility indicator that indicates whether one or more productsassociated with the receipt is eligible for return.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: generating a unique receipt identifier; andstoring the unique receipt identifier in the memory element of theportable device.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the receipt is for atransaction conducted on an account issued by an issuer, the methodfurther comprising: sending a copy of the receipt along with the uniquereceipt identifier to the issuer of the account.
 6. The method of claim4, further comprising: obtaining the formatted report data stored in thememory element of the portable device; and displaying the formattedreport data in a display interface of the portable device, wherein theformatted report data includes a field for an icon or a link throughwhich the receipt is accessible.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thecloud storage system generates a unique receipt identifier and transmitsthe unique receipt identifier to the portable device.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the receipt is for a transaction conducted on anaccount issued by an issuer, and wherein the cloud storage system sendsthe unique receipt identifier and at least a portion of the receipt datato the issuer of the account.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein theunique receipt identifier is linked to a corresponding transaction onthe account at the issuer such that the receipt for the transaction isaccessible to the user from a user interface for management of theaccount maintained by the issuer.
 10. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: receiving a selection of at least one search parameter fromthe user; and creating a receipt search request including the selectionof the at least one search parameter.
 11. The method of claim 10,further comprising: transmitting the receipt search request to the cloudstorage system.
 12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:determining that the portable device is offline; and executing a queryon the memory element of the portable device, said query being based onthe selection of the at least one search parameter, to identify amatching receipt; and displaying the matching receipt to the user. 13.The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one search parameter isselected from a group consisting of transaction date, merchant, purchasecategory, payment card and receipt identifier.
 14. A processor-readabletangible non-transitory medium storing processor-issuable instructionsto: receive a receipt having receipt data through an interface of aportable device, the receipt including a plurality of receiptparameters; upload the receipt to a cloud storage system; receive customreport parameters through an input device of the portable device, thecustom report parameters specifying one or more of the plurality ofreceipt parameters; transmit the custom report parameters to the cloudstorage system; receive a request for a receipt history report from auser, including at least one receipt query parameter; transmit the atleast one receipt query parameter to the cloud storage system; receivereport data from the cloud storage system including receipt data forreceipts stored on the cloud storage system that satisfy the at leastone receipt query parameter, the report data having receipt parametersin conformance to the custom report parameters; and generate the receipthistory report based on the report data and provide the generatedreceipt history report on the interface of the portable device; formatthe report data into a set of fields selected according to a userpreference selection comprising the custom report parameters, whereinthe set of fields are determined based on at least one of a display sizeand capacity of a memory element of the portable device; receive arequest from the user to display a new field that is available from thereceipt data but was not selected according to the user preferenceselection; and in response to the request, obtain data for the new fieldand reformat the report data to display the new field in the receipthistory report.
 15. An electronic receipt manager system, comprising: aportable device having an input interface configured to receive anelectronic receipt corresponding to a transaction, the electronicreceipt including receipt data and a plurality of receipt parameters;wherein the portable device receives custom report parameters through aninput device of the portable device, the custom report parametersspecifying one or more of the plurality of receipt parameters; a cloudstorage system coupled to a receipt database; and an issuer of anaccount on which the transaction is conducted; wherein said portabledevice is configured to: transmit the electronic receipt and the customreport parameters to the cloud storage system; display a receipt historyreport on an interface of the portable device, wherein the receipthistory report is generated based on report data received from the cloudstorage system; format the report data into a set of fields selectedaccording to a user preference selection comprising the custom reportparameters, wherein the set of fields are determined based on at leastone of a display size and capacity of a memory element of the portabledevice; receive a request from the user to display a new field that isavailable from the receipt data but was not selected according to theuser preference selection; and in response to the request, receive datafor the new field and reformat the report data to display the new fieldin the receipt history report; wherein the cloud storage system isconfigured to: receive the electronic receipt from the portable device;generate a receipt identifier for the received electronic receipt; storethe electronic receipt in association with the receipt identifier in thereceipt database; transmit the receipt identifier to the portabledevice; transmit the receipt identifier along with at least onetransaction identifying information to the issuer; receive at least onereceipt query parameter; transmit report data including receipt data forelectronic receipts stored on the cloud storage system that satisfy theat least one receipt query parameter, the report data having receiptparameters in conformance to the custom report parameters; and providefor display on the portable device a receipt history report generatedbased on the report data; and wherein the issuer is configured to:receive the receipt identifier and the at least one transactionidentifying information from the cloud storage system; identify at leastone transaction corresponding to the at least one transactionidentifying information; link the receipt identifier to the at least onetransaction; and provide a user of the account access to the electronicreceipt stored in the receipt database in the cloud storage system viathe receipt identifier.